Tullow falls on Ethiopian setback 

SHARES in Tullow Oil plummeted yesterday as the company said drilling at a well in Ethiopia had been delayed.

In a statement, Tullow said it had experienced "stability" issues at its Sabisa-1 well in Ethiopia. As a result drilling at the well had been delayed until the end of May – two months later than planned.
"Hydrocarbon indications. . . have been recorded whilst drilling, but hole instability issues have required the drilling of a sidetrack to comprehensively log and sample these zones of interest," Tullow said.
Tullow's exploration director Angus McCoss said the issues were being dealt with.
"The Sabisa-1 well has proved to be technically challenging, as is often the case in frontier basins, and the well now requires a side-track to redrill, log and sample the objective section. Nevertheless, we are encouraged by the hydrocarbon indications which provide emerging evidence for a working petroleum system in the previously undrilled South Omo Basin," he added.
Elsewhere Tullow said it had completed the first of six drill tests at the Ngamia-1 well in Kenya, which flowed at a reasonable 281 barrels a day.
Mr McCoss described the flow rate as "very encouraging".
By the close in London, Tullow was down 5.1pc at 1,101p.