Tullow to pay dividend to government from 2019

The Managing Director of Tullow Oil Ghana, Mr Kweku Awotwe, has indicated that beginning next year, the company will start paying dividend to the government.

That, he said, followed the company’s ability to service its debts that was in excess of US$4 billion in the last 12 months.

Mr Awotwe, who announced this during an interaction with editors and senior media practitioners in Accra on December 6, said the year 2018 had been good because the company made great strides.

The company was poised to deliver strong and sustainable returns on investment for shareholders, he said, adding that it would continue to take safety measures to prevent accidents.

Over the next five years, Mr Awotwe said Tullow would commit the sum of US$10 million to help improve infrastructure to support the Free Senior High School Policy.

On corporate social responsibility, he said, Tullow had invested in impactful projects in the areas of science, technology engineering and mathematics (STEM), capacity building, enterprise development, shared infrastructure and environmental interventions.

He hinted that the company was working to strengthen and grow its business in Ghana by tapping into additional exploration opportunities.

On the undrilled prospects, the managing director stated that leads had been identified within the Jubilee and TEN fields which could result in new discoveries and generation of additional production and revenue for Ghana and other stakeholders.

He said the rise in oil price had shored up the company’s finances and helped to reduce its debt portfolio.

Numbers

Tullow-Ghana’s drilling programme is targeting significant increase in production from around 147,000 barrels to 180,000 in 2019.

Commenting on the company’s implementation of the local content law, Mr Awotwe stated that many Ghanaians had benefited from a number of training programmes which had enabled them to take up various positions that were previously occupied by expatriates. — GNA