Tullow gets $450 mln lending boost from creditors

LONDON, March 20 (Reuters) - Africa-focused oil producer Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW.L - news) said it had raised an additional $450 million of capital from existing lenders, boosting the energy firm's financial strength amid weak oil prices.

Tullow said on Friday its lenders had agreed to extend existing commitments by another $200 million, increasing available debt to $3.7 billion.

The company also secured an additional $250 million from lenders through a corporate debt facility that has now risen to $1 billion.

This brings Tullow's total committed debt facilities to around $6.3 billion, it said.

"Today's announcement demonstrates the resilience of our debt capital structure and the quality of our portfolio to generate significant liquidity, even at low oil prices," said Ian Springett, Tullow's chief financial officer, in a statement. (Reporting by Karolin Schaps, Editing by Paul Sandle)