Shares in Irish-founded Tullow Oil rose more than 4% as it reported its first annual net profit in five years.
The Africa-focused firm said it would resume dividends with a 4.8 cent per share payout as it sets its sights on East African projects and drilling in Guyana.
As flagged in November, Tullow will pay out at least $100m (€88.4m) to shareholders from this year, while aiming to shrink its $3.1bn debt and increase spending to $570m.
The largest chunk of that money will help increase output in Ghana, which sets Tullow on course to raise output to 102,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed) this year from 90,000 boed.
Tullow made a post-tax profit of $85 million on $1.9bn in revenue last year, buoyed by higher oil prices and cost discipline.