Tullow Oil has reported a loss for the third consecutive year.

The leading gas and oil producer took a hit of $754.7m in 2016, after it was forced to write off further exploration costs.

While this was down from the $1.09 billion loss the year previously, it was significantly larger than analyst estimates.

Sales revenue fell around 20% to $1.3 billion at the group, which was founded in Carlow and is now headquartered in London.

 

This was attributed to falling oil prices since 2014 and comes despite Tullow's new oilfields off the coast of Ghana coming on stream.

Analysts have been disappointed by forecasts that the project will only produce 50,000 barrels per day this year, as a border dispute between Ghana and Ivory Coast hurts its ability to drill new wells.

Chief executive Aidan Heavey said:

"“The clear highlight of 2016 was delivering Ghana’s second major oil and gas development, the TEN fields, on time and on budget. Production from TEN, alongside our other West African oil production, has provided Tullow with positive free cash flow and enabled us to begin the important process of deleveraging our balance sheet.

"As we focus our free cash flow primarily on reducing our debt, capital discipline remains critical. We have made excellent progress with our East African developments and are building a high quality exploration portfolio to grow our business. As I move to become Chairman of the Group and hand over to Paul McDade, Tullow has the right assets and expertise to take full advantage of the opportunities ahead."

Continuity at Tullow will be maintained after the April switch as Heavey takes the position of non-executive chairman for a maximum of two years, while Paul McDade who has been chief operations officer for the past 12 years.