Dana Gas achieves new record output from Iraqi asset

Dana Gas, the Sharjah-based natural gas company, reached a record level of production from its Khor Mor gas plant in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The plant, operated by Pearl Petroleum, reached a level of 418 million cubic feet per day of gas on November 18, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

Dana Gas has a 35 per cent stake in Pearl Petroleum. The company saw a 6 per cent increase in production during the third quarter of the year to 32,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, due to the completion of a plant bypass project in August.

"We are also very pleased to announce that after a delay in the implementation of the first 250 million sf/d gas processing train following border closures and travel restrictions resulting from Covid-19, that we anticipate recommencing civil engineering works on location in the next few weeks,” Dana Gas chief executive Patrick Allman-Ward said.

First gas from one of the two gas processing trains under development is expected in the first quarter of 2023. The project will add between $175 million and $200m annually to the company’s revenues, Mr Allman-Ward said.

Dana Gas, through the Pearl Consortium, which operates its Kurdish assets, is looking to ramp up production of gas from the Khor Mor and Chemchemal fields to around 880 million sf/d, with condensate production of 36,000 barrels per day by 2021. The company is also bringing two 250 million sf/d gas processing trains on stream to meet the capacity increase.

In November, Dana Gas said it swung to a net loss of $360m in the third quarter, from a $2m net profit in the year-earlier period, weighed down by impairment costs related to its Egyptian assets.

Net revenue for the three months to the end of September fell to $52m compared with $65m in the year-earlier period, the company said.