because the company had failed to reach production targets at a project in Ghana because of "operational hiccups". This prompted the broker Investec to rate the company a "sell" and decrease its target price. Also causing problems were the oil fields known as the TEN that Tullow discovered off the coast of Ghana. The fields were a significant find but the projected development cost of the fields was estimated to exceed $5 billion, which is too much for a firm of Tullow's size.

During the same period,