Taqa ends talks to buy 50% stake in Kurdistan power plant

Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (Taqa) said on Wednesday that it had ended talks to buy a 50 per cent stake in the Sulaymaniyah power station in Iraq's Kurdistan region, as the project did not match the company's growth strategy.

"We have rebalanced our growth agenda and this acquisition no longer fits our strategy," a spokesman for the company told Reuters.

He did not mention the Islamist insurgency in Iraq. However, Taqa suspended its operations at the Atrush oil production block in Kurdistan earlier this month, citing the escalating instability in the region.

Record oil production sees Taqa swing to Q2 profit

Abu Dhabi National Energy Co (Taqa), the state-owned oil explorer and power supplier, swung to a profit in its second quarter, buoyed by record oil and gas production.

Taqa, 75 per cent owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, reported net profits of Dh239 million ($65.1m) for the quarter ended June 30 compared with a loss of Dh172m a year earlier, the company said on Wednesday.

The year-earlier loss was largely due to a Dh114m special loss on valuations of derivatives and hedges, and a Dh51m foreign exchange loss. In the latest quarter, Taqa posted a derivatives loss of only Dh62m and a Dh14m gain from foreign exchange.

Revenue for the latest quarter was Dh6.52 billion versus Dh5.86b in the corresponding period last year.

Taqa achieved record oil and gas production averaging 158,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first half of the year, representing a 24 per cent increase year-on-year, the statement said.

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