UAE-based Dana Gas says its first-quarter net profit rose to 25 million dirhams ($6.81 million), up 19 per cent from the year-ago period, helped by record oil prices.

The company’s revenues from oil and gas production in the three months ending March 31 grew to 272 million dirhams, an increase of 35 per cent over the same period last year, it says in a statement.
“Comparing this year’s first quarter with last year’s first quarter, the growth was mainly driven by an increase in oil prices that have resulted in high returns,” finance director Neeraj Agrawal says.
Production from the firm’s Egypt operations, presently its sole source of output, in the first quarter remained constant at about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a rate it plans to keep steady for the rest of the year, Agrawal says.
The company’s project in Iraq’s Kurdish region, 80 per cent of which has been completed thus far, is expected to be ready for production by the end of July and contribute to profit in the third quarter, he adds.
“In 2008 Dana Gas expects to achieve rapid growth after the solid foundations established by the Company in 2007. The UAE and Kurdistan Gas Projects are both expected to start up by the middle of this year and in Egypt we are also implementing an active $170 million drilling campaign of 19 new wells which we anticipate will significantly increase our reserves and production,” says Hamid Jafar, executive chairman of Dana Gas,  adding: 
“In addition, the first quarter of this year has already seen Dana Gas significantly expand its existing position in the UAE to the exploration and production of natural gas, as we recently entered into a 25 year concession agreement for exploration and development of gas in an area of over 1,000 sq km offshore Sharjah, including development of the discovered Zora Gas Field, marking the Company’s first entry into the exploration and production of gas in the GCC, and also its first offshore operations. We look forward to continued growth and achievements in 2008 and beyond, with the skills of our staff and the support of our esteemed shareholders.” 
Established in late 2005, Dana Gas has already achieved important assets and projects in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the growing natural gas industries of the UAE, Egypt and Iraq, and is also developing a network of industrial ‘Gas Cities’ across the Middle East region. In addition the company is developing new projects and evaluating further acquisition opportunities, specifically in the Gulf region and North Africa.