Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: Dana Gas on Monday reported a 27% year-on-year growth in its net profits for the first three months of 2018.
The UAE-based energy producer generated a net profit of AED 51 million ($14 million) during the three-month period ended March 2018, up from AED 40 million ($11 million) in Q1-17, according to a statement to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).
Dana attributed the jump in its first-quarter profits to higher realised prices, coupled with the reversal of accruals generated by Pearl Petroleum for certain operating charges in the previous years, following the positive settlement with the Kurdistan Regional Government.
The Abu Dhabi-listed producer posted a total revenue of AED 440 million during Q1-18, compared to AED 432 million ($118 million) in the year-ago period.
“The first quarter 2018 saw Dana Gas continue to perform solidly from both a financial and operational perspective,” Dana Gas’s CEO Patrick Allman-Ward commented.
The rise in revenue was ascribed to higher realised prices for condensate which contributed AED 45 million ($12 million), the statement showed.
Dana’s cash position amounted to AED 2.3 billion ($636 million) by the end of Q1-18.
The Middle East’s largest regional natural gas company billed Egypt AED 117 million ($32 million), of which it received AED 99 million ($27 million) in Q1-18.
Dana’s trade receivables in Egypt registered AED 858 million ($234 million) in the first three months of 2018, while the company’s capital expenditure in the most populous Arab country recorded AED 29 million ($7 million) in the same period.
Output and operations
Dana’s average production fell 7% to 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in January-March period of 2018, from 69,900 boepd in the comparative period of 2017.
The UAE’s Zora gas field’s output hit 1,400 boepd during Q1-18, compared to 1,800 boepd in the same three months a year ago.
“We have submitted our field development plans to the Ministry of Natural Resources for the next phase of capacity expansion by 500 Million standard cubic feet per day,” Allman-Ward said.
