Dragon Oil, the energy company with its headquarters in Dubai, said yesterday it sold 4.9 million barrels of crude oil in the first half of 2009, 40 per cent higher than the volume it sold during the corresponding period the last year.
The company issued a trading statement and said that it will disclose its first half revenues by mid-August.
The company missed its target of enhancing its daily production by 15 per cent on an annual basis and posted an 11 per cent increase in average daily production.
"The company remains committed to enhancing its production by 15 per cent over the period 2009-2011. To compensate for a lower increase we may record a higher increase in production later," Martin Jackson, a company spokesperson, told Emirates Business.
The average daily production rate grew to 42,808 barrels of oil per day from 38,482 bpd in the year-earlier period, but the average price for its crude oil dropped 54 per cent to $50 a barrel.
The company, Jackson said, has been trying to diversify into a "wide range" of areas and suggested that the radar for future operations may extend beyond Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.
A company spokesperson told Emirates Business in March this year that the company has been trying to acquire oil fields in Central Asia and gas fields in Yemen. "Dragon oil's diversification interests remain intact. We are looking into a wide range of areas," Jackson said.
The company expects to complete eight oil wells by the end of 2009, it said in its trading statement. The company that spent 53 per cent of its $155 million (Dh569m) capital expenditure in the first half of 2009 on infrastructure and drilling identified "limited availability of contractors" in the Caspian Sea as a "key risk" to its operations.
In a statement, CEO Abdul Jaleel Al Khalifa said the company recorded lower than expected production due to "certain operational issues" and "changes in the 2009 drilling programme".
"The first six months of 2009 were eventful for Dragon Oil both on the operational and corporate fronts. Good progress was made with securing rigs to support our long-term drilling programme, but due to changes in the 2009 drilling programme and certain operational issues the average production for the first half of 2009 was below our expectations," Khalifa said. It has a cash balance of $875m and remains committed to its drilling programme.
Dragon Oil has proven and probable oil reserves at June 30, 2008, of 645 million barrels and 3.2 trillion cubic feet of gas resources. The company is registered in Ireland and is listed under a dual primary listing on the London and Irish stock exchanges. The company's primary assets are oil and gas fields in offshore Turkmenistan.
Fifty-two percent of the company's equity is held by the Dubai-based oil retailer and refiner Emirates National Oil Company. Enoc has proposed to buy the rest 48 per cent. Dragon oil has stopped its corporate restructuring after receiving an offer in this regard from Enoc.
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