Sharjah-based Dana Gas, a leading regional private sector natural gas company in the Middle East, has commenced commercial gas production from the Zora Gas Field in the UAE.

Initial project start-up was achieved on January 14 with early gas supplies being intermittent as the gas plant was being fully commissioned. Subsequently sales production was delayed due to urgent maintenance work on gas supply infrastructure at the customer’s receiving facilities, a statement said.

The Zora Gas Field is located in the Sharjah Western Offshore Concession, approximately 35 kilometres off the coasts of Sharjah and Ajman in the UAE. The Concession covers a total area of over 1,000 sq km straddling the maritime waters of Sharjah and Ajman.

Dana Gas is the operator with a 100 per cent interest, and will manage the field and the gas sales and purchase agreements. The gas is being transported through a subsea pipeline to a newly built onshore gas processing facility constructed by Dana Gas and located in the Hamriyah Free zone in Sharjah.

The field is expected to achieve a flow rate of 40 million cu ft a day (6,650 barrels of oil equivalent). Natural gas from the Zora field will be sold for use in power generation in the domestic market, thus delivering a clean source of energy to the Emirate of Sharjah, as well as cost savings from displacing part of the current sources, which include diesel fuel.

The project achieved an excellent safety record of over two million man-hours without lost time incidents.

Dr Patrick Allman-Ward, CEO, Dana Gas, said: “Zora is our first development project in the UAE, and as such, represents a significant milestone in the Company’s 10 year history. The project represents a considerable investment by Dana Gas and the resulting gas output will support clean, domestic power generation for Sharjah for years to come.”

“Despite a very tough business environment, Dana Gas is entering into a new and exciting phase of its development. Our exploration and development activities in the UAE and in Egypt will provide a short to medium term boost to our overall production levels and thereby help to offset the decrease in revenue and profits resulting from the current low oil price environment.

“We are also operating and producing in three countries and territories for the first time in our history, namely Egypt, Kurdistan and now the UAE in keeping with our strategy of diversifying our asset portfolio,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service