By: Mahmoud Gamal
Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: Dana Gas is looking to boost its investments in Egypt after the Egyptian government began disbursing receivables in a timely manner, the company’s head of investor relations told Mubasher on Sunday.
Earlier today, the Sharjah-based firm announced receiving an additional payment of $44.3 million (AED 162.4 million) from its operations in Egypt.
This payment consists of an additional $35 million industry payment from the Egyptian government and $9.3 million from the sale of 157,350 barrels of El Wastani condensate, Dana Gas had said in a bourse filing.
The last payment was positive and indicates that Egypt is on the right track to reimburse the entire receivables by 2019, Mohammed Mubaideen told Mubasher in a phone call.
Mubaideen pointed out that the last payment will encourage the company to pump further investments into the most populous Arab country.
Year-to-date, the Abu Dhabi-listed company’s total receipts from Egypt stood at AED 729 million ($199 million), up 21% from AED 600 million ($164 million) in 2017.
The Middle East’s largest regional private sector natural gas company is seeking to drill its first offshore well in Egypt next year. The well will be drilled in Block 6 located in the Mediterranean Sea on the border with the Gaza Strip, he stressed.
Dana Gas is currently focusing on the completion of the final preparations for drilling its first offshore deepwater exploration well in the Block 6 North El Arish Concession Area early in 2019.
Earlier this month, Dana Gas revealed that its production reached 70,000 barrels oil equivalent per day (boepd) from the debottlenecking project in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the completion of the Balsam 8 well in Egypt.
Translated by: Mai Ezz El-Din
