Dana Gas achieves revenues of Dhs247m in first three months

This 9% decrease over the same period last year, from similar production volumes, is due to lower LPG and Condensate realized prices ,though the relatively constant contracted gas prices received by the Company in Egypt has minimized this decrease

Gross Profits, increased by 64% to Dhs68m compared to the same period last year, despite the decline in revenue mainly due to condensate sales from the Company's operations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

The Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, Amortisation and Exploration (EBITDAX) was positive at Dhs113m and reflects the positive cash generation by the Group during the first quarter. The Group incurred a net loss of Dhs32m in the first quarter after finance cost of Dhs57m and tax charge of Dhs30m as compared to a net profit of Dhs25m in the same period last year when the Company generated a profit from disposal of the Company's interest in West Gharib concession.

Dana Gas' oil and gas production in Egypt ended the quarter with a production of 2.66m barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) (31 March 2008: 2.65MMboe). The Company successfully brought the El Basant field on stream on 31 March 2009, thereby increasing production through its El Wastani gas plant in the Nile Delta region of Egypt to 170m standard cubic feet of gas per day (MMscfpd) having. Total production in Egypt in April 2009 reached 35,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), a 20% increase on the average rate achieved during 2008. This increase in production will be reflected in the Company's results the second quarter of 2009.

In the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (Dana Gas 50% working interest) , gross gas production from the Khor Mor Field stood at 85 MMscfpd together with gross condensate production of 4,300 boepd which is being produced through Early Production Facilities (EPF) with gas being delivered to the power station at Erbil. Construction work is ongoing to complete the two train LPG facility at Khor Mor in late 2009, and drilling of a well on the Khor Mor Field is underway.

Commenting on the first quarterly results of 2009, Dana Gas Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Ahmed Al-Arbeed, said:

"We have had a successful first quarter in which we had two exploration successes in Egypt, Azhar and Sondos, our exploration programme is continuing with four wells currently drilling.The El Basant field was successfully brought to production on 31 March 2009, just five months after its discovery and we plan to bring Sondos to production by end of June, only four months after its discovery, through Dana Gas' South El Manzala Gas Plant. In Kurdistan the project for completing installation of a LPG recovery plant is progressing rapidly and we expect gross gas production in Kurdistan to increase to 150 mmscfd in the third quarter 2009 and eventually to 300 mmscfd later in 2009"

Commenting on the Company's domestic operations, Mr. Arbeed added "We expect the long awaited UAE Gas Project to start up in 2009 and our facilities in Sharjah our in a state of readiness to receive the gas. Fast track development of the Zora Gas Field in Sharjah is also ongoing and we plan to have first production in 2010 to supply further needed gas to the UAE local market".