Dana Gas, a leading UAE-energy company, said on Tuesday its production in Egypt had increased 20 per cent in 2010 helped by output from seven new fields in the Nile Delta.

Production hit 42,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2010 and is expected to rise to 67,000 boepd in mid-2012, Dana said in a statement to the Abu Dhabi bourse.

Dana plans to explore 14 wells this year with the first, Sanabel-1, underway. The board of Dana has decided to retain its 100 per cent interest in the Nile Delta concessions and to continue operating them rather than the planned farmout, the statement added.

'With 16 discoveries in Nile Delta in three years, combined with our year-on-year output increase of 20 per cent, (it) reinforces our view of the remaining potential of this first class acreage and confirms that retention of our 100 per cent interest will deliver the maximum value to our shareholders,' Ahmed al Arbeed, CEO of Dana Gas said in the statement.

Dana's production continues to increase with current production in the Nile Delta at 246 million standard cubic feet per day (mscfd) of gas plus 7350 barrels per day of condensate and LPG totaling 48,000 boepd.

'We are targeting similar annual increases in production during 2011 and 2012,' Arbeed said.-Reuters