Dubai: Dana Gas, the Middle East’s largest regional private sector natural gas company, announced that the ramped up of production from its debottlenecking project in the Kurdistan region of Iraq has resulted in 70,000 oil barrels per day (bpd) on November 19, and sustained above that level since.
The company’s principal operations are in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and Egypt, where the drilling of the Balsam-8 well has also led to a sharp increase in overall production. Current group production, in excess of 70,000 bpd, represents a significant increase compared to the company’s nine-month 2018 average of 62,250 bpd.
Dr Patrick Allman-Ward, CEO of Dana Gas, said: “Production in excess of 70,000 barrels oil equivalent per day is a great achievement for Dana Gas. At the start of the year, we planned a drilling programme in Egypt and a debottlenecking project in KRI that would significantly increase production. We have successfully delivered both projects. The increase in production will help offset the lower realised hydrocarbon prices that have impacted the oil industry in the last quarter and support growth in our revenue and net profit figures for the full year of 2018 and beyond.”
In the fourth quarter 2018, Dana Gas Egypt completed the drilling of the Balsam-8 well and tied it in to the network. The well was completed ahead of schedule and under budget, adding over 5,000 bpd to the company’s output.
In KRI, the company announced a 30 per cent increase in production capacity at the Khor Mor field, which it jointly operates on behalf of Pearl Petroleum. The expansion of the gas processing plant consisted of a series of plant additions and modifications to de-bottleneck throughout, raising output capacity from 305 MMscf/d of natural gas to 400 MMscf/d, with over 15,000 bpd of condensate. This is expected to add up to $50 million (Dh184 million) annually to the top line without incurring any additional operational costs.
