Dana Gas, a leading natural gas company, has posted a net profit of $14 million (Dh51 million) for the first quarter 2018 as compared to $11 million (Dh40 million) in Q1 2017, marking a 27 per cent increase.

 This increase was mainly due to better realized prices and the reversal of accruals made by Pearl Petroleum for certain operating charges in prior years which are no longer required following the positive arbitration settlement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), a statement said.

Dr Patrick Allman-Ward, CEO of Dana Gas, said: “The first quarter 2018 saw Dana Gas continue to perform solidly from both a financial and operational perspective. We have delivered a good set of financial numbers for the first quarter.”

“We recorded a 27% increase in net profit and higher revenues reflecting higher realised prices. We continue to collect payments regularly in the KRI and our cash reserves increased further to $636 million. On the operations front, we signed a Gas Sales Agreement with the KRG for the incremental production from the debottlenecking project for which we have secured financing and are making good progress to increase our output by 20% this year.

“We have also submitted our field development plans to the Ministry of Natural Resources for the next phase of capacity expansion by 500 MMscf/d. The long-term, full potential of our world class assets in the KRI is very exciting. All in all, I am very pleased with the first quarter results,” he added.

The company reported first quarter 2018 gross revenue of $120 million (Dh440 million) as compared to $118 million (Dh432 million) in Q1 2017. The increase in revenue is the result of higher realised prices for condensate which contributed $12 million (Dh45 million) to its top-line; and helped offset a production decrease in Egypt and the UAE which impacted our top-line by $10 million (Dh37 million). – TradeArabia News Service