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A Dana Gas facility in Kurdistan Image Credit: Gulf News Archives

Abu Dhabi: Dana Gas has received an initial payment of $50 million (Dh184 million) from the Egyptian government as partial payment of its outstanding receivables, the company said in a statement on Abu Dhabi bourse on Thursday.

This payment represents 18 per cent of Dana Gas Egypt’s total overdue receivables of $283 billion (Dh1.038 billion) as of the end of first quarter 2017 and was made as part of an industry payment made to the petroleum sector.

“Whilst the company is hopeful that further payments will be forthcoming, it will remain in cash preservation mode given the continued uncertainty around the timing of these collections,” Dana Gas said.

Dana Gas, which pumps most of its gas at fields in Egypt and Iraq, is seeking to recover payments from both countries for overdue bills. The company was owed $1 billion from Egypt and the self-governed Kurdish region in northern Iraq at the end of the quarter this year.

Investments

The company will not make any new investments in Egypt due to delay in receiving payments from the Egyptian government, its CEO Dr Patrick Allman-Ward had previously said.

In the first quarter 2017, Dana Gas reported gross revenues of $118 million and net profit of $11 million as compared to revenue and net profit of $82 million and $6 million in the first quarter 2016. The uplift was due to increased production, principally in Egypt and higher realised prices, the company said last week.

Overall group production was 69,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day, 16 per cent higher compared to first quarter of 2016.