Tullow Oil shares tank on refinancing, output update

(Sharecast News) - Tullow Oil has said it is engaging in refinancing talks in an attempt to put the business on a "long-term sustainable financial footing", as it revealed that full-year output would be at the low end of guidance and production would fall further next year. The company, which has assets across West Africa and Argentina, said that average production rates would sink further in 2026 as it warned of the "natural decline" in its existing well stock.

The stock was down nearly 32% at 5.83p by 0819 GMT.

In a trading update on Friday, Tullow said it was talking with bondholders, commodity traders and other private funders about the refinancing of its capital structure.

"However given the risks associated with business performance, wider market conditions and the upcoming May 2026 bond maturity, Tullow is progressing alternative options with certain of its creditors, including an amend and extend exercise and other forms of liability management transactions," the company said.

The news came as the oil explorer announced that 2025 production would be at the lower end of its guidance range of 40k-45k barrels of oil equivalents per day.

Output averaged 40.7k boepd over the year to the end of October, down from the 61.2k boepd rate averaged in 2024. For 2026, that's expected to drop to 34k-42k boepd.

Meanwhile, net debt is now expected to be $1.2bn by the end of the year, up from an earlier estimate of $1.1bn.

"Our near-term priority remains to put Tullow on a long-term sustainable financial footing. To achieve this, we are focused on maximising operational efficiency in Ghana, cost optimisation, and refinancing the group's capital structure," said chief executive Ian Perks, who joined in September.

Looking ahead, Perks said: "We continue to face challenges related to the natural decline in our existing well stock and are focused on exploring all options to help mitigate this. Looking ahead into 2026 we will look to optimise production through management of the decline and the additional production from new wells."