LONDON (ShareCast) - The Chairman of Tullow Oil has shown his faith in the company following its disappointing profit result on Wednesday.

Simon Thompson purchased 6,244 shares at 796.48p a go, spending a total of £49,732. His stake in the company now stands at 20,604 shares.

Meanwhile, Non-Executive Director, Jeremy Wilson, bought himself £118,050-worth of shares the following day, and now owns 15,000, bought at 787p a piece.

The results showed revenue in the year to December 31st rose 13% to $2.65bn, while production rose 6% to 84,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day on a 2% fall in price per barrel to $105.7.

However, a fall in profit on disposals of $670m and a $200m increase in exploration write-offs reduced pre-tax profit by 72% to $313m and post-tax profit by 68% to $216m.

Chief Executive Aidan Heavey also said the company was "not for sale" after disappointing exploration news sparked speculation that it could be a target for Norway's Statoil or Chinese oil companies at about 1,400p per share.

Heavey told journalists on a conference call: "The fact that Tullow has so many world-class assets in key areas means we're always going to be the subject of takeover rumours.

"Our exploration programme has been incredibly successful and continues to be the most successful in the sector.

"That's why people keep talking about taking us over, but we're not for sale."


Top Director Buys

Tullow Oil (TLW)
Director name: Mr Jeremy Wilson
Amount purchased: 15,000 @ 787.00p
Value: £118,050

Tullow Oil (TLW)
Director name: Mr Simon Thompson
Amount purchased: 6,244 @ 796.48p
Value: £49,732

Maven Income & Growth 3 VCT (MIG3)
Director name: Mr Bill Nixon
Amount purchased: 49,350 @ 83.89p
Value: £41,400

Maven Income & Growth 2 VCT (MIG2)
Director name: Mr Bill Nixon
Amount purchased: 72,567 @ 57.05p
Value: £41,399

Maven Income & Growth 4 VCT (MAV4)
Director name: Mr Bill Nixon
Amount purchased: 41,788 @ 99.07p
Value: £41,399

Bisichi Mining (BISI)
Director name: Mr Garrett Casey
Amount purchased: 40,000 @ 100.00p
Value: £40,000

Tate & Lyle (TATE)
Director name: Sir Peter Gershon
Amount purchased: 5,000 @ 669.00p
Value: £33,450

Maven Income and Growth VCT 5 (MIG5)
Director name: Mr Allister G Langlands
Amount purchased: 73,232 @ 41.58p
Value: £30,450

Asian Plantation Ltd. (DI) (PALM)
Director name: Mr Dennis Melka
Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 220.00p
Value: £22,000

Maven Income And Growth VCT 6 (MIG6)
Director name: Mr William Nixon
Amount purchased: 18,879 @ 54.82p
Value: £10,349


Top Director Sells

Workspace Group (WKP)
Director name: Mr Graham Clemett
Amount sold: 300,000 @ 566.91p
Value: £1,700,730

Tullow Oil (TLW)
Director name: Mr Graham Martin
Amount sold: 74,920 @ 801.50p
Value: £600,484

Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM)
Director name: Mr Colin Robert Jones
Amount sold: 21,848 @ 1,248.00p
Value: £272,663

Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM)
Director name: Mr Bashar AL-Rehany
Amount sold: 18,149 @ 1,248.00p
Value: £226,500

Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM)
Director name: Mr Christopher Fordham
Amount sold: 16,470 @ 1,248.00p
Value: £205,546

Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM)
Director name: Mr Diane Alfano
Amount sold: 10,047 @ 1,248.00p
Value: £125,387

Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM)
Director name: Mr Dan C Cohen
Amount sold: 6,464 @ 1,248.00p
Value: £80,671

Mattioli Woods (MTW)
Director name: Mr Nathan James McLean Imlach
Amount sold: 15,000 @ 425.00p
Value: £63,750

Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM)
Director name: Mr Colin Robert Jones
Amount sold: 3,660 @ 1,269.20p
Value: £46,453

Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM)
Director name: Mr Jane Wilkinson
Amount sold: 3,465 @ 1,248.00p
Value: £43,243

NR

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