Dana Gas receives funds for Zora project

The project is expected to provide gas to the Northern Emirates from next year.

Anthony McAuley

Dana Gas continued its recent string of good news, announcing that it had secured additional financing for its Zora field project, which is expected to provide gas to the Northern Emirates from next year.

The Sharjah-based natural gas explorer and producer said it raised US$100 million through a credit facility maturing in 2018, with Emirates Bank NBD Capital leading a syndicate of regional banks to provide the loan.

Dana chief executive Patrick Allman-Ward said the project is on track to be onstream in the first half of 2015, adding that it “will provide a much needed source of clean energy for the benefit of the northern emirates of the UAE”.

The Zora field is located in waters off Sharjah and Ajman and is expected to produce 40 million standard cubic feet per day to power producers.

Dana Gas reported a 70 per cent rise in second-quarter net profit, with encouraging production news in Egypt and operation in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

Last month, Dana Gas and its partner Crescent Petroleum won a favourable ruling from an international tribunal in a long-running dispute with Iran over gas supply to the northern emirates, and both companies said they now hope to negotiate a resolution with the National Iranian Oil Company to secure additional supplies to the region.

Dana Gas closed down 1.43 per cent at Dh0.69.

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