DNO, the Norwegian oil and gas operator in which the UAE’s RAK Petroleum holds a 40.45% stake, has released its 2017 accounts together with its statement of reserves and resources, reporting improvements across key financial and operational metrics.
Annual 2017 revenues climbed to $347mn, up 72% from a year earlier. Operating profit totalled $521mn, up from $6mn in 2016, with the recognition, as other income, of $556mn under the August 2017 Kurdistan Receivables Settlement Agreement.
Excluding the settlement agreement and non-cash impairments, operating profit in 2017 more than doubled to $72mn. The firm also ended the year with a cash balance of $430mn, despite doubling its operational spend to $259mn.
Company working interest (CWI) production increased to 73,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) up moderately from 69,200 boepd in 2016. Operated production in 2017 was 113,500 boepd, up from 112,600 boepd in 2016. DNO stated that lifting costs last year averaged $3.6 per barrel of oil equivalent.
DNO’s production continues to be driven by the Tawke field in Kurdistan, where output in 2017 averaged 105,500 barrels per day (bpd). The adjacent Peshkabir field, brought on stream mid-year, contributed another 3,600 bpd to bring total Tawke licence production to 109,100 bpd in 2017. The company plans to bolster production from the licence with 10 new wells in 2018.
“We are committed this year to continue to outdrill, outproduce and outperform all other international companies in Kurdistan – combined,” said DNO’s Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani.
At the end of 2017, DNO’s working reserves climbed to 240mn barrels of oil equivalent up from 219mn barrels of oil equivalent.
