Dana Gas, the Middle East’s leading regional private sector natural gas company, has announced a number of major milestones in the successful fulfilment of its growth strategy in Egypt.
The recent signing of Blocks 1 and 3 concession agreements in the Nile Delta provides Dana Gas with additional highly material growth opportunities in the country. This supplements a number of positive developments including the recent signing of the landmark Gas Production Enhancement Agreement (GPEA) and the large payment made by the Egyptian government in December 2014 towards outstanding receivables. Together, these milestones place, Dana Gas is on a much stronger footing in Egypt from which it can benefit for its next phase of growth.
Read also: Chevron proposes huge investment in bitumen mining, exploitation
The GPEA allows the Company to significantly enhance production and to start gradually recovering its outstanding receivables in a phased manner over the next few years. This is in addition to the payments made to the industry by the Egyptian authorities from time to time.
Following the signing of this GPEA agreement, a $60 million payment was made to Dana Gas by the Egyptian Government in December 2014 as part of its payments to the industry. This payment accounts for 28 percent of the total overdue receivables of $212 million and will be used to fund future investment requirements and address operational expenses in Egypt.
Patrick Allman-Ward, CEO of Dana Gas, said: “I am pleased to announce that Dana Gas Egypt has delivered a number of important achievements in recent months which are potentially game-changing for our business. We are poised to deliver strong growth in Egypt in the short term as a result of the signing of the Gas Production Enhancement Agreement duly supported by the payment made by the Egyptian government last month. We see this positive momentum continuing and are excited about our exploration and development plans in Egypt.”
Dana Gas is currently the 6th largest oil and gas operator in Egypt. In 2014, the Company was able to increase average production of gas, LPG, condensate and crude oil to around 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which was an 8 percent increase over 2013 average production. It has surpassed the milestone of producing over 100 million barrels of oil equivalent accumulatively since commencing its operations in Egypt in 2007.
