Carl Sheldon, Taqa's chief executive. Courtesy Taqa
Carl Sheldon, Taqa's chief executive. Courtesy Taqa

Taqa counts the cost of slide in gas prices



Falling natural gas prices in North America led to a big drop in profits and revenues in the second quarter of the year for the Abu Dhabi National Energy Company, better known as Taqa.

The government-owned company recorded sales of Dh6 billion(US$1.63bn) in the three months to the end of June, a decline of 14.5 per cent on the same period last year.

Pretax profit also dropped, falling more than 20 per cent to Dh1.1bn but a favourable tax regime allowed net profit to creep up by 2.8 per cent to Dh446 million.

"It is clear the first half of 2012 has been a challenging period for the global economy, a fact that can be clearly seen in falling global commodity prices," said Carl Sheldon, Taqa's chief executive.

Henry Hub prices, the measure of the cost of gas in the United States and Canada, fell to a 10-year low in February. Driven by the rapid increase in supply resulting from new production techniques, Henry Hub averaged $2.354 per million British thermal units [mmBtu] in the last quarter, 46 per cent less than the same quarter a year earlier.

Despite production increases in Europe and higher prices for gas sold there, overall revenue at Taqa's oil and gas division declined by almost 5 per cent.

This contrasts with the company's performance last year, when surging oil prices offset the plunge in gas prices and full-year oil and gas revenue increased by 30 per cent on 2010.

Taqa responded to the continuing drop in prices by shutting down part of its dry-gas production in Canada, where its North American gas assets are located, and focusing its investment programme on its crude and condensate production assets. But the Canadian gas assets will not be divested, said Mr Sheldon, as the company believed prices would recover.

"We think the gas prices will come back," said Stephen Kersley, Taqa's chief financial officer. "All the commentators and many of the supermajors see the current price as something of a short-term blip and that prices in the $4 to $5 [mmBtu] range are feasible in the longer term."

North America's oversupply will diminish once gas import terminals - built when the US and Canada were still net importers - have been reconfigured to allow for exports. The US government this year granted permission for the first terminal to be converted.

Taqa expects it will take another five years before such export facilities exist for its Canadian gas, however.

Low prices have also boosted the petrochemicals industry in North America, which feeds on natural gas and could strain supply further.

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West Asia Premiership

Dubai Hurricanes 58-10 Dubai Knights Eagles

Dubai Tigers 5-39 Bahrain

Jebel Ali Dragons 16-56 Abu Dhabi Harlequins

Three tips from La Perle's performers

1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.

2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.

3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

Skewed figures

In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458. 

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Real estate tokenisation project

Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.

The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.

Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.