Dana Gas PJSC, a regional private sector natural gas company, has received payments of $48mn from its operations in Egypt in June. These collections comprise $38mn in payments from the government (of which $30mn as Dana Gas’ share of the industry payment) and $10mn from the sale of the second El Wastani condensate shipment in 2019.
The industry payment is part of the government’s ongoing efforts to reduce its overdue receivables position to zero by the end of 2019. Since 2018, the company has continued to make steady progress in reducing its outstanding balance of overdue receivables.
Total receipts from Egypt in 2018 reached $208mn, reducing the total receivables sum to $140mn by year end, the lowest level since January 2011. The company has received a total of $78mn in payments during H1 2019, further reducing the company’s receivables by 38% to $125mn.
“Receiving $38mn from the Egyptian Government in June shows steady progress for the government in achieving its target of paying all the overdue receivables by year-end. These payments will provide funds to execute our current onshore work-over programme and contribute towards the costs of drilling Merak-1, our deep-water exploration well in Block 6. Drilling operations are progressing well and we are expecting to have results in the third quarter this year,” said Dana Gas CEO Patrick Allman-Ward.
Dana Gas commenced drilling operations on 20 May 2019 at its Merak-1 well, offshore Egypt. The location is in 755 metres of water in the North El Arish concession (Block 6). This block is lies in the Eastern Mediterranean (Levantine) Basin where other world-class giant natural gas discoveries have been made in recent years.
