UAE's Dana Gas receives $24M of its dues in Egypt

CAIRO - 9 February 2022:The UAE company, Dana Gas, announced, Wednesday,receiving a cash payment of $ 24 million (88 million dirhams) at the end of December 2021 from the Egyptian government, bringing the total amounts owed to the company in Egypt to less than $ 30 million, which is Its lowest levels since the company started its operations in Egypt in 2007.

 

According to a company statement published on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, the reduction of the amounts owed to Dana Gas in Egypt, along with the unpaid payments in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, contributed to strengthening the company's balance sheet.

 

The company said in the statement that the aforementioned factors enabled it to distribute interim dividends of 3.5 fils per share, following the approval of the company's general assembly, which was held on December 9.

 

Earlier, the Emirati company announced that the total cash payments it received in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and Egypt increased by 107 percent on an annual basis in 2021 to reach $377 million (1.38 billion dirhams) compared to $182 million (667 million dirhams) in 2020. 

 

The company said in a previous statement, that this significant improvement in the level of collection is due to the strong recovery in oil prices, the acceleration of the pace of cash payments collection in Egypt, and the settlement of the company's old overdue receivables in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

 

In detail, the stake of Dana Gas, which owns 35 percent in Pearl Petroleum "Pearl", in cash payments received from sales of condensate, LPG and natural gas in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq increased by 80 percent to $184 million (674 million dirhams) in 2021, compared to $102 million (374 million dirhams) in 2020.

 

This significant increase in the collection rate is due to the full settlement of the overdue arrears in favor of the company in the region for the years 2019 and 2020.

 

Dana Gas achieved a net profit of 1.16 million dirhams at the end of 2021, compared to a net loss of 1.38 billion dirhams for the year 2020.

 

This increase was mainly driven by higher oil prices and improved operational performance in addition to other sources of income, which included the amount awarded by the arbitration panel in favor of the company at a value of $608 million (AED 2.23 billion).

 

The share of Dana Gas rose during Wednesday’s trading session, coinciding with the announcement of its transformation to profitability during the year 2021.

 

During today's trading, at 10.30 am UAE time, the share of Dana Gas rose by about 2.8 percent, with a trading volume of 20.7 million shares, with a value of 22.69 million dirhams.