DUBAI: Abu Dhabi-listed Dana Gas posted a 28 percent rise in second-quarter revenue on higher output of LPG and condensates from its Egyptian operations. Revenue at the Middle East s first privately owned natural-gas production firm rose to AED 309 million ($84.13 million) in the three months to June 30, compared with AED 241 million in the same period last year, the company said. The firm posted profit of AED 34 million ($9.26 million) in the second quarter, or AED 0.005 per share, up 17 percent from the year-earlier period. The second-quarter performance beat an analyst forecast of AED 14 million profit for the quarter in a Reuters survey in June. Dana Gas made AED 29 million in the second-quarter of 2007, or AED 0.004 per share, and AED 25 million in the first quarter of this year. The company s production in Egypt ended the quarter with production of 2.51 million barrels of oil equivalent, it said in a statement. We are not too concerned about the detail of the second quarter results...everyone is waiting for when the gas flow will start from Iran and also when they begin operations in Kurdistan, Abid Riaz, senior research analyst at EFG Hermes said. Its UAE-based affiliate, Crescent Petroleum and Dana Gas, said late last month they would begin supplying natural gas to Iraq s Kurdish region in the coming weeks. Initial supplies to the Kurdish power plants will be 150 million cubic feet per day (cfd), rising to 300 million cfd in early 2009, the companies said. Shares of Dana Gas closed 1.8 percent higher at AED 1.71 on Thursday, and are more than 40 percent below Global Investment House s rating of AED 2.86. The company s results were released outside of trading hours.
