Dana Gas mulls roll-over option

Company with $344m in cash in discussions with lenders about its future debt mix

Dana Gas PJSC, a producer of natural gas in Egypt, Iraq and the UAE, may seek to roll over part of the $700 million (Dh2.6 billion) Islamic bonds maturing next year, the chief executive officer said.

The company, which has about $344 million in cash, is in discussions with lenders about its future debt mix, Patrick Allman-Ward said in an interview on Bloomberg Television yesterday.

“We are looking at different ways in which we can go forward and structure our debt,” AllmanWard said. “Clearly part of that is going to involve buying back a lot of the sukuk and part of that is going to have to be a discussion around rolling over the remaining amount in future.”

Dana Gas has joined oil and gas producers globally in cutting costs after crude prices fell to about half their 2014 levels amid a production glut. The company pumps fuel from its home base of Sharjah in the UAE as well as in Egypt and Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region. It sells condensate, a light oil liquid from its Egyptian deposits on the global market as well as gas and other fuels domestically in Iraq and Egypt.

Brent crude closed at $49.92 a barrel, snapping three weeks of gains. Allman-Ward said he sees the second half as positive and doesn’t see the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) agreeing among themselves and with other producers to limit output.