DNO Expands and Accelerates Kurdistan Operations

DNO ASA, the Norwegian oil and gas operator, has announced expansion and acceleration of operations in the Kurdistan region of Iraq while building up its North Sea exposure.

 

First quarter revenues, the highest in nearly four years, stood at US$142 million and net profit at US$18 million. The company exited the quarter with cash balances of US$518 million plus US$76 million in treasury shares and marketable securities.

 

The company added a third licence in Kurdistan following government and partner approvals of the previously announced transaction with ExxonMobil. Effective the 10th April, DNO assumed operatorship of the Baeshiqa licence with a 40 percent (32 percent participating) interest alongside ExxonMobil, Turkish Energy Company and the Kurdistan Regional Government.

 

At the Tawke licence, the company fast tracked development of the Peshkabir field with three new wells. The recently completed Peshkabir-4 well will shortly undergo production testing and the Peshkabir-5 well is drilling ahead at 2,250 metres. The Peshkabir-6 well was spudded as a development well last week and will also explore the field’s deeper Triassic formation.

 

“We have the wind in our back,” said DNO’s Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani, “with higher oil prices, timely export payments in Kurdistan, a growing portfolio of quality assets, efficient drilling and bold strategy execution. “

 

On the DNO-operated Tawke licence containing the Peshkabir and Tawke fields, 15,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) of production from two Peshkabir wells are comingled with 90,000 bopd from the flagship Tawke field for export through Turkey.

 

A new Tawke Cretaceous well was brought on-stream earlier this month at more than 5,000 bopd. The company will drill additional Tawke development wells in 2018 following mobilisation of a fourth rig.

 

Elsewhere, the company acquired 28.71 percent of North Sea-focused Faroe Petroleum Plc at a price of £1.25 per share through four separate transactions in April, complementing DNO’s existing portfolio of 19 exploration licences offshore Norway and the United Kingdom

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DNO’s current cash balance stands at US$356 million plus US$280 million in treasury shares and marketable securities.

 

The company’s outstanding bond debt remains at US$400 million and the equity ratio at 61 percent.

 

Source: Iraq Business News