UAE- based Dana Gas reported a fourth-quarter loss of $4mn, which the company blamed on lower oil prices and a fall in the value of its oil and gas assets in Egypt, Reuters has reported.
The company made a net loss of $4mn in the three months to 31st of December down from a profit of $34.9mn a year earlier.
However, Dana’s chief executive Patrick Allman-Ward told Reuters in a conference call that should oil prices recover, the company could reverse the $22mn impairment charge booked in the fourth quarter relating to its Egyptian assets.
Dana’s 2014 net profit dropped to $124.4mn from 155.4mn in 2013, while its full-year gross revenue increased 5% to about $650mn as production in Egypt and Kurdistan also increased.
The company’s average output in 2014 was 68,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up 6% from a year earlier.
“Our short-term focus is on increasing production further,” Allman-Ward told Reuters in a statement.
“Our long-term focus is on three new onshore and offshore blocks in Egypt and developing our Khor Mor and Chemchemal gas fields in Kurdistan.”
Dana’s total production has been predicted to rise 10%, largely from a gas production enhancement agreement in Egypt and a gas project in the UAE, he said.
The chief executive also unveiled the company’s interest in new oil and gas investment opportunities in Iran expected to be announced at a London conference later in the year.
“Iran is a country with huge hydrocarbon resources … we would be looking at, and interested in evaluating, opportunities in Iran,” he said.
