Dana Gas said today that it has received a $60mn payment from the Egyptian government as part of its overdue $212mn debt to the UAE exploration and production company.
The payment has been received in the form of $10mn and the balance- in Egyptian pounds equivalent.
Dana Gas said the money will be used to pay for the company’s debt, fund future investment requirements and address operational expenses in Egypt.
Earlier in 2014, Dana Gas and the Egyptian government signed a Gas Production Enhancement Agreement (GPEA) which allowed the company to increase production from Egypt and recover its outstanding payments from the Egyptian government over a 3-year period.
Under the agreement, investments will be put in a development program aimed at increasing production from the company’s development leases in the Nile Delta, which currently stands at around 40,000 barrel of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
Dana Gas said it will undertake exploration and production activities over a-seven-year period.
The company is also expecting to start project work and begin its first export sales of incremental volumes of condensate in the next few months.
Estimated production during the period will be approximately 270bn cubic feet of natural gas, 8 to 9mn barrels of condensate and around 450,000 tons of LPG.
The company added that5 2017 is expected to see peak production of approximately 160 MMscf gas and 5,600 barrels of condensate per day.
Over the period of settling outstanding payments with the Egyptian government, Dana Gas has reported increased production from the Egyptian fields.
Its gas, LPG, condensate and crude oil production from Egypt averaged 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2014- an 8% increase over 2013 figures.
