UAE’s Dana Gas Q1 net profit halves, hit by energy price drop

Abu Dhabi-listed energy firm Dana Gas reported a 50 per cent drop in first-quarter profit on Wednesday that it blamed on lower hydrocarbon prices and reduced output in Egypt and Kurdistan.

Dana made a net profit of $6m in the three months to March 31. This compares with a profit of $12m in the prior-year period, it said in a statement, and resumes an earnings slump.

In 2015, Dana Gas reported falling profits in the first and second quarters and losses in the third quarter before posting a big jump in profit in the final three months of last year after it booked a one-off gain relating to an arbitration case.

Dana’s first-quarter revenue was $82m, down from $115m. Lower hydrocarbon prices accounted for $28m of the revenue drop, it said.

The company is one of the largest oil and gas investors in Iraqi Kurdistan. In November, the company said it had won an international arbitration award against the Kurdistan Regional Government.

For more than two years, Dana has battled the KRG in the courts, where the firm is seeking to confirm its contract rice and obtain payments for products it had delivered.

The KRG in response, said it would continue to pursue huge financial claims against a consortium including Dana, adding the company’s statement was misleading and incomplete.

Dana aims to slash its head office workforce by 40 per cent and cut general and administrative costs by half between 2015 and early 2016, Dana Gas’ chief executive Patrick Allman-Ward said in January.