LONDON (Reuters) - Africa-focused Tullow Oil (L:TLW) reported a loss for a third consecutive year in 2016 after it was forced to write off further exploration costs, the company said on Wednesday.
The oil and gas producer reported a full-year operating loss of $754.7 million, down from a loss of $1.09 billion in 2015 but bigger than analyst estimates for a $639.4 million loss, mainly due to gross exploration write offs of $723 million.
Sales revenue fell around 20 percent to $1.27 billion despite its TEN oilfields offshore Ghana coming on stream, as weak oil prices ate into the value of its sales.