Dana Gas normalised net profit in third quarter rises 35% on higher oil and gas prices

Higher realised prices helped the company offset a 4% drop in production in the three-month period

Dana Gas revenue in the January-September period rose 24 per cent to Dh1.5 billion from a year ago. Jaime Puebla / The National

Dana Gas, one of the largest private natural gas companies in the Middle East, has reported a 35 per cent rise in normalised net profit in the third quarter as it benefited from higher oil and gas prices.

The company's normalised net profit, which excludes the impact of non-recurring items, in the three months ended September 30 rose to Dh182 million ($49.55m) from Dh135m a year ago, the Sharjah-based company said on Wednesday in a filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, where its shares are traded.

The company's revenue in the quarter rose 11 per cent to Dh480m from a year ago.

“While headwinds to the global economy are increasing amid higher inflation and slowing growth, the outlook remains positive given continued elevated energy prices and the company’s strong balance sheet and low debt position,” said Patrick Allman-Ward, chief executive of Dana Gas.

Oil and gas producers have benefited from a surge in crude prices since Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine began in February. Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world’s oil, is currently trading at about $95 a barrel after closing closing in on an all-time high of $147 a barrel earlier this year.

Dana Gas said its average realised prices for condensate surged 42 per cent to $81 a barrel in the third quarter, while realised prices for liquefied petroleum gas rose 15 per cent to $39 a barrel of oil equivalent.

The company’s production, however, fell 4 per cent in the quarter owing to declining output from its Egyptian oil and gas assets.

Dana Gas produced 59,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day during the period, lower than the 62,500 boepd it produced a year earlier.

Last year, an international arbitration tribunal awarded Dana Gas $607.5m as compensation for damages in a case against the Iranian state-owned energy producer.

The dispute concerned a 25-year gas sales and purchase contract between Dana Gas affiliate Crescent Petroleum and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC). The project was due to commence in December 2005, however, NIOC did not deliver on its commitments.

For the first nine months of 2022, Dana Gas posted a 42 per cent drop in net profit to Dh589m compared to the same period in 2021.

Excluding the year-ago period’s one-time gains and charges, Dana Gas’s normalised profit was higher by 64 per cent.

Revenue in the January-September period rose 24 per cent to Dh1.5 billion from a year ago while the company's operating costs fell 11 per cent.

In April, Dana Gas was included in the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange’s new benchmark, the FTSE ADX 15 Index.

The gauge includes the 15 largest and most liquid companies on the ADX, chosen on the basis of free-float adjusted market capitalisation and median trading value.

Natural gas markets are expected to remain tight in 2023 as Russia, one of the world’s largest exporters, further reduces supplies to Europe.

European natural gas prices and Asian spot liquefied natural gas prices hit record highs in the third quarter of 2022.

This reduced gas demand and spurred a switch to other fuels required for power generation, such as coal and oil.

Global gas consumption is expected to decline by 0.8 per cent in 2022 as a result of a record 10 per cent contraction in Europe and unchanged demand in the Asia-Pacific region, according to the International Energy Agency.