Dana Gas posts $186 mln net loss

United Arab Emirates’ Dana Gas posted a net loss of $186 million for 2018, it said on Thursday, against a profit of $83 million a year before, due to impairments at its Zora gas field in the UAE and other fields in Egypt.

The gas producer reported one-off non-cash impairments of $187 million for its Zora field and $59 million for its fields in Egypt. Production at Zora is expected to cease this year, it said.

Excluding the impairment, Dana posted a net profit of $64 million, up from $5 million on a like-for-like basis in 2017.

Dana reached a restructuring agreement with its creditors in May after a protracted legal dispute that began in 2017, when it halted payments on $700 million in sukuk, or Islamic bonds, saying the instruments had become unlawful in the UAE.

On Thursday the company said it had completed its sukuk buyback program, reducing outstanding notes to $399 million from $700 million. This will save the company $40 million annually in financing costs, it said.

The energy producer said in a statement that it had $407 million in cash as of the end of December, down from $608 million a year earlier. (RTRS)