UAE’s Dana Gas to operate onshore Egypt assets after winning arbitration case

Dana Gas, the Sharjah, UAE-based energy company focused on Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, said on July 25 it will continue to operate its onshore Egyptian fields after winning an arbitration case filed by IPR Wastani Petroleum, whose sale and purchase agreement of the assets was terminated by Dana Gas.

IPR Wastani Petroleum, a member of the IPR Energy Group, on April 28 initiated a case against Dana Gas in the London Court of Arbitration following the April 22 termination of the SPA agreement for the Egyptian onshore assets. The court ruled that the termination of the SPA was “valid,” Dana Gas said in July 25 statement. Texas-based IPR couldn’t be immediately reached for comment outside business hours.

Dana Gas scrapped the sale after “the parties were unable to complete a number of conditions precedent to the transaction by the long-stop date of 14 April 2021.”

“The board has made a decision to continue to hold and operate the assets in the best interests of the company and its shareholders as well as for our broader stakeholders,” Patrick Allman-Ward, Dana Gas CEO, said in the statement. “We are also excited about the potential of our offshore Block 6 concession area and we are working hard to be able to drill an exploration well in the block as soon as practicably possible.”

Dana Gas, which currently produces 30,000 boe/d from 14 development leases in Egypt, had wanted to sell its onshore assets in the North African country to focus on its production in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, where it is boosting its gas and condensate output

For now, Dana Gas will also focus its attention on exploring Block 6 in Egypt.

The Block 6 concession area “is estimated to contain more than 20 Tcf gas resources which it plans to test by drilling an exploration well currently scheduled for Q1 2022 depending upon the availability of long lead items,” Dana Gas said.
Source: Platts