United Arab Emirates-based energy firm Dana Gas swung to a $134.2 million profit in the fourth quarter, as a one-time contribution from an arbitration process helped offset the global downturn in energy prices.

Dana made a net profit of $134.2 million in the three months to December 31, compared with a loss of $4 million in the prior-year period, Reuters calculated, based on the firm’s full-year earnings statement in lieu of a quarterly breakdown.

Dana Gas reported falling profits in the first and second quarters and a loss in the third quarter of 2015, hit by oil prices. Its chief executive, Patrick Allman-Ward, warned in November after reporting the third-quarter loss that the final three months of 2015 would be "similarly challenging".

However, the company said in a statement it received cash later that month from RWE settling an arbitration which transferred a 5 percent interest in Pearl Petroleum Company. It didn’t disclose the cash amount received.

RWEST Middle East, a unit of the German energy firm, agreed to join the Pearl Petroleum group, which reduced the stakes of both Dana Gas and Crescent Petroleum from 40 per cent to 35 per cent, following a London arbitration process initially begun in December 2010.