The company said it is on course to report sales of $1.15 billion (£734 million) in the six months to June 30, compared to $1.06 billion the year before.

Tullow’s production during the period rose by 3% to 77,400 barrels a day, as oil averaged $114.2 a barrel and UK gas 58.4p per therm.

Most production came from West and North Africa, where Ghana and Equatorial Guinea contributed 22,400 and 11,200 barrels a day respectively.

Tullow got a boost in February, when it signed two agreements with Uganda allowing it to complete a deal with China’s CNOOC and France’s Total, paving the way for commercial oil production in the country.

The deals were struck after an intervention by Foreign Secretary William Hague, pictured, regarding a tax dispute between Tullow Oil and the Ugandan government about the group’s acquisition of assets in the country from Heritage Oil.