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Oil company Tullow Oil swung to a first-half profit, despite lower production hurting revenue, after it booked much smaller exploration write-off and impairment charges.
Pre-tax profit for the six months through June amounted to $213.1 million, compared to year-on-year losses of $1.44 billion.
Revenue fell to $726.8 million, down from $731.0 million, as production volumes dropped to 61,230 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 77,700 boepd.
For the full year, Tullow Oil narrowed its production guidance upwards to a still-lower 58,000-to-61,000 boepd.
The forecast followed a deferral of a shut-down at the Jubilee field in Ghana into 2022 and an increase in production from Simba in Gabon.
Full-year underlying operating cashflow was expected to be about $0.6 billion assuming $60 a barrel crude oil for the remainder of the year.
Post all costs, Tullow forecast full-year free cash flow of about $0.1 billion.
If the oil price averaged $70 per barrel in the second half, this would increase by about $50 million, it added.
'Strong operational performance in the first half of the year and a transformational debt refinancing have put Tullow on a firm footing to deliver our business plan,' chief executive Rahul Dhir said.
'Our West Africa production assets have performed well, and we are narrowing production guidance for 2021 to the upper end of the range.'
'In Kenya, the revised development plan creates a robust project that has the potential to deliver material value to the government of Kenya and other stakeholders.'