Dana Gas swung back to profit in the fourth quarter of last year after almost doubling its Egyptian oil and gas reserves.
The Sharjah company's net income for the final three months of last year reached Dh59 million (US$16m), compared with a loss of Dh193m loss for the same period in 2009. Revenue increased 46 per cent to Dh539m, according to preliminary year-end data.
Dana's full-year profit last year rose 80 per cent compared with 2009 to Dh158m on Dh1.79 billion of revenue. A 22 per cent production increase from its Egyptian reserves accounted for most of the company's sales increase.
Ahmed al Arbeed, the chief executive of Dana, said he was optimistic about all of the company's projects, despite the political turmoil in Egypt and a long-running dispute over Iranian gas exports to Sharjah.
"Egypt has not changed [for us] at all. We are still producing there. We don't really expect problems," Mr al Arbeed said.
Even in the case of a regime change, the administration overseeing the country's oil and gas sector would stay intact, he predicted.
"The system in the Egyptian oil sector is well established. There are over 70 operators in Egypt … the contracts will continue." Mr al Arbeed said Dana did have a plan for evacuating expatriate staff working in Egypt because communications from within the country had become difficult.
Gaffney Cline, the UK advisory firm, assessed Dana's proved reserves in Egypt at 89 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) at the end of last year, up from 47 million boe at the end of 2009. The company was producing 42,000 boe a day from Egypt at the end of last year.
Mr al Arbeed said he had not given up on Dana's long-delayed plan to market Iranian gas in the UAE that its Sharjah affiliate Crescent Petroleum had expected to start importing five years ago.
"We cannot forget this important project," he said. "This concerns the country where we have our headquarters. We promised the people that we would bring the gas, so we will do this."
Crescent served the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) with an arbitration notice in July 2009. A ruling was expected towards the end of this year, Mr al Arbeed said.
"We understand that NIOC has recently introduced hydrocarbons into the completed upstream facilities within Iran to progress the commissioning and testing activities," Dana said in its preliminary year-end report.
"This potentially allows for contractual gas deliveries to commence." In Iraqi Kurdistan, where the Pearl Petroleum consortium in which Dana holds a 40 per cent interest has been supplying gas to two power stations for the past two years, an agreement between the regional government and Iraq's federal government is in the final stages of negotiation.
It would allow Pearl to recover the cost of its investment, Mr al Arbeed said.
"We expect to get our money back," he said. "We are one of the major investors in the region."
Dana's investment in Kurdistan exceeds Dh1.3bn, the company said. Further development of the Kurdish gas reserves is planned to supply fuel and feedstock to local industries.
Mr al Arbeed said he hoped some of the gas would eventually be exported because that would be in the interests of both Kurdistan and Iraq.
Extending Pearl's existing gas pipeline from Erbil, the Kurdish regional capital, to the Turkish border would not be a problem, he said.
In the UAE, Dana is developing a small offshore gasfield jointly owned by Sharjah and Ajman. The main elements of a sales agreement for the gas have been finalised with the Government of Sharjah and first production from the field is expected next year, Mr al Arbeed said.
tcarlisle@thenational.ae
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
The National in Davos
We are bringing you the inside story from the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, a gathering of hundreds of world leaders, top executives and billionaires.
Trolls World Tour
Directed by: Walt Dohrn, David Smith
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake
Rating: 4 stars
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Australia World Cup squad
Aaron Finch (capt), Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steve Smith, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Jason Behrendorff, Nathan Lyon, Adam Zampa
If you go
Flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh with a stop in Yangon from Dh3,075, and Etihad flies from Abu Dhabi to Phnom Penh with its partner Bangkok Airlines from Dh2,763. These trips take about nine hours each and both include taxes. From there, a road transfer takes at least four hours; airlines including KC Airlines (www.kcairlines.com) offer quick connecting flights from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville from about $100 (Dh367) return including taxes. Air Asia, Malindo Air and Malaysian Airlines fly direct from Kuala Lumpur to Sihanoukville from $54 each way. Next year, direct flights are due to launch between Bangkok and Sihanoukville, which will cut the journey time by a third.
The stay
Rooms at Alila Villas Koh Russey (www.alilahotels.com/ kohrussey) cost from $385 per night including taxes.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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