GAS EXPORTS TO UAE ON AGENDA
Iran Daily
Zawya
03 February 2010
Dana Gas, the UAE-based oil and gas company, said on Monday the
long-awaited natural gas imports from Iran could resume, as testing
and commissioning of the project’s facilities were underway on the
Iranian side.
"After a delay of almost four years, National Iranian Oil Company
as recently introduced hydrocarbons into the completed upstream
facilities–within Iran–to progress,".
Dana Gas said in its financial results statement for 2009 that
the commissioning and testing activities allow the contractual gas
deliveries to commence, Dow Jones reported.
The company was listed on the Abu Dhabi bourse in December 2005 on
the basis of the estimated $1 billion project, under which Iran has
agreed to pipe gas to Sharjah, where Dana Gas is based.
Crescent Petroleum, a private UAE oil and gas firm, which owns a
21-percent stake in Dana, is set to import the gas from Iran’s Salman
field via pipeline, while Dana has the contract to sell it locally.
The 25-year contract was signed between Crescent and NIOC in 2001.
However, the project has faced delays due to disagreements between the
two parties over gas price and delays in constructing the project’s
facilities.
The company added that "no impairment provisions are considered
necessary at this time" for assets related to the project on its
balance sheet as at Dec. 31, 2009, after a review by its auditors.
Dana Gas earlier reported a fourth-quarter net loss of 193 million UAE
dirhams ($52.6 million) due to exploration write-offs and impairment
charges on some oil and gas assets. Its shares last traded 1.1 percent
lower at AED0.90 in a slightly higher overall market.
In a related development, Pakistani Federal Minister for Petroleum
Naveed Qamar declared that the US has no objection to an agreement
between Iran and Pakistan to build a natural gas pipeline.
The minister told reporters that a technical agreement between Iran
and Pakistan would be signed before February 15 when a gas deal between
the two countries would expire, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.
"I had a meeting with officials of the US Overseas Private Investment
Corporation and the US ambassador, and they had no objection to the
project," Qamar said.
The Pakistani minister’s remarks come amid reports that the US Special
Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke had earlier urged
Islamabad to avoid the deal with Iran.
Holbrooke had said the US would help Pakistan secure liquefied natural
gas supplies, should it abandon the planned gas deal with Iran. Iran
has exported 742 million c/m of gas during December 22-January 20.
Manager of Iran’s Zone VIII of Gas Operations Valiollah Dini said his
zone has pumped a total of 2 billion c/m of gas during the same period.
"742 million c/m of the said volume have been exported to the countries
under (export) contract via Nakhichevan, Turkish and Armenian borders
and the rest has been transferred to the national grid," he said.
Iran has boosted the amount of gas exports to other countries in
recent years.
Iran’s OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi announced earlier this
month that the country plans to start export of its huge natural gas
reserves in the near future.