Dana Gas board reviews progress of new discoveries, approves five-year growth plan

The announcement came at the end of a tour of Dana Gas Egypt's operations by the company's directors and senior management last week, during which they visited the El Wastani gas field and integrated gas plant at Damietta, in the Nile Delta region of Egypt.

The El Wastani plant, which consists of a manifold area for gas collection, a primary separation phase to separate gas and condensate, and a third phase for gas processing, condensate stabilisation and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) recovery, is currently processing 150 million standard cubic feet (mmscfd) of gas, over 3500 barrels of condensate, and around 1900 barrels of LPG per day.

Rashid Al Jarwan, General Manager of Dana Gas, said the visit made by the directors and management to Egypt put into context the company's ambitious five-year plan, which includes a combination of carefully targeted investments spanning acquisitions and internal growth through exploration, development and increased production.

"This visit allowed our directors to witness the quality and scale of Dana Gas' achievements in Egypt. This year, Dana Gas has succeeded in delivering new reserves in Egypt, initiating first gas from our projects in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and laying the groundwork for new exploration and development in Egypt and the UAE," said Mr Al Jarwan.

Ahmed Al Arbeed, Dana Gas Executive Director of Upstream, discussed the company's successes in 2008 and the potential for numerous discoveries in 2009 across its Egyptian concessions.
"We hope to build on the achievements of Dana Gas in the coming year with more upstream activity, including additional exploration and production from our concessions," said Mr Al Arbeed.

Dana Gas posted Dhs901m for the first nine months of 2008, with a 20% increase in gross profit and an 18% increase in net profit over the same period last year. Earlier this month, the company had announced that gross operated gas production from operations in Egypt and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq had increased by over 50%, reaching 220 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd), or in excess of 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) per day.
Coupled with a projected increase in total gas production reaching 300 mmscfd from the Kurdistan region of Iraq in 2009 - a 200% increase on the company's current operated production in Egypt - Dana Gas is gearing up for a year of new milestones and achievements to cement its position as a leading regional player in the natural gas industry.

In October, Dana Gas also announced a significant gas discovery at Al Tawil in the Nile Delta in Egypt which was production tested at a rate of about 25 mmscfd of gas and over 1,000 barrels of condensate per day (totalling approximately 5,000 boe per day). This discovery is particularly important as the well produced condensate at higher levels than existing producing wells and so will add materially to the company's overall liquid production in Egypt. Dana Gas is also moving forward with its plans to develop the Western Offshore concession in Emirate of Sharjah which includes the development of the Zora Gas field in the coming year.