UAE’s Dana Gas Q1 net profit rises 27%

United Arab Emirates-based energy firm Dana Gas on Monday reported a 27 per cent rise in first quarter net profit, thanks to higher prices and a reversal of accruals.

Dana made a net profit of $14m in the three months to March 31, up from $11m a year earlier, it said in a statement.

Dana said the rise was due to higher prices and the reversal of accruals made by Pearl Petroleum for certain charges in previous years which are no longer required following an arbitration settlement with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Pearl, a venture in northern Iraq, is owned 35 per cent by Crescent Petroleum, 35 per cent by Crescent affiliate Dana Gas, 10 per cent by Austria’s OMV, 10 per cent by Germany’s RWE, and 10 per cent by Hungary’s MOL.

Dana has in recent years been struggling to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in overdue payments from Egypt and Iraqi Kurdistan.

In March, Pearl Petroleum said it signed a 10-year gas sales agreement with the KRG to supply and sell the additional quantities of gas produced from its de-bottlenecking project.

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