Mohammed Mubaideen
Welcome everybody to the Dana Gas first half 2026 financial results call. Before we begin, I'd like to apologize on Richard's behalf as he is unfortunately unable to join us for today's call.
Chris will therefore present the results before taking your questions. For the purpose of this call, Chris will be taking you through slides 5 and 18, covering the first half performance highlights and summary of the first half results.
The full presentation is available on our website and will be used during the Q&A session for reference. I would also like to draw your attention to our disclaimer on slide 3, which we encourage you to read carefully.
Before moving on, I would like to note that we will not be discussing the broader geopolitical situation during today's call and will focus on the company's financial and operational performance. After the presentation, there will be sufficient time for a Q&A session, which will be handled by Chris and also I have here my colleague Azfar Abu Bakr, the head of financial controls and reporting, who will be also assisting in answering your questions.
I will now hand over the call to Chris to discuss the results.
Chris Hearne
Thank you, Mohammed, and good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for joining the call today.
I'm delighted to report that we started the year with strong operational momentum and reached our highest production levels since 2018. Group output exceeded 70,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in January, following the early completion of the KM250 project in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
During the first half of the year, regional security disruptions resulted in temporary shutdowns of Khor Mor, constraining utilization of the expanded processing capacity. Despite these challenging conditions, the company adapted quickly and continued to supply gas for electricity generation to the local population as well as condensate and LPG.
We were one of the only operators, if not the only operator, to maintain production at some level. Following updated security assessments and assurances from the KRI and the government of Iraq, operations resumed after these interruptions.
Today, Khor Mor's production is approximately 630 million standard cubic feet of gas and group production is exceeding 65,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. This performance demonstrates the resilience of our assets and the professionalism of our team, allowing us to realize the benefits of additional capacity from the KM250.
Overall production in the KRI was lower due to the regional security events. However, production increased in Egypt, which offset the impact of lower production in the KRI.
This resulted in an overall slight increase in group production compared to last year. Please turn to the numbers on slide 5.
Net profit for the first half was $107 million, up 47% year-on-year. Please note that this includes a one-off $48 million positive adjustment relating to the gas metering reconciliation at Khor Mor that was recorded in 1Q this year.
The metering adjustment is a one-off reconciliation of gas volumes supplied in the period from November 2018 to March 2024. The reconciliation was completed during the first quarter of this year and resulted in the additional invoice of $48 million.
On an underlying basis, net profit for the first half of 2026 was $59 million compared to $73 million in 2025. 2026 net profit was impacted by the KM250 capitalized costs, which are now being amortized through the P&L.
In addition, net profit was also impacted by increased royalties and dry hole expenses in Egypt. Net profit is expected to increase as production at Khor Mor reaches its full capacity, taking our group production to our target of 75,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Revenue increased to $258 million as compared to $171 million in 2025, up 51% year-on-year. The revenue figure also included the one-off adjustment.
Excluding the adjustment, revenue increased by $39 million year-on-year, supported by higher realized hydrocarbon prices, higher production in Egypt, and increased gas sales volumes at Pearl Petroleum. Our group production was just under 53,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
In the KRI, we demonstrated exceptional operational resilience. In particular, the plant demonstrated its additional capacity in January with Khor Mor gas production exceeding 700 million standard cubic feet per day.
That translated into around 15,000 barrels of oil a day of additional production, taking group output to around 70,000 barrels a day for the first time since 2018. The additional processing capacity remained available throughout the period, although regional security-related disruption constrained utilization at certain times during the first half of the year.
Development of the Chemchemal field also remains a priority for growth, with Dana Gas and its partners progressing this important project under a $160 million investment program. Following the reporting period, gas supplies commenced to Iraq's Ministry of Electricity, marking an important step as we begin to realize the benefits of the KM250 expansion and to further diversify our customer base.
In Egypt, we continue to see encouraging results from our investment program. Production increased year-on-year in both quarters, resulting in production growth of 7% across the first half.
We drilled three new wells and recompleted one well during the period. One of those wells identified an estimated 10 Bcf of gas resources as compared with the original prognosis of 3 Bcf, and may support a further 12 Bcf of future gas resources across the license area once developed.
We plan to drill four additional wells during the end of 2026. Moving on to liquidity, the business remains in a robust financial position.
We ended the first half with $230 million of cash. Of that, $95 million is held at the Pearl Petroleum level.
Collections during the period reached $168 million. In the KRI, first half collections totaled $104 million and we received a $61 million dividend from Pearl.
This compares to $56 million last year. The collection rate in the KRI has reduced to 78% and we continue to engage constructively with the KRI on improving collections.
In Egypt, collections totaled $64 million, representing a strong collection rate of 194% with all overdue receivables settled and payments continuing in full and on time. We also secured a $75 million bank facility in March at a very competitive rate, despite the challenging regional environment.
The facility was fully drawn in April, further strengthening our liquidity and financial flexibility. During the period, we were pleased to be able to pay an increased dividend of 6.5 fils per share, representing a total cash distribution of $124 million to shareholders.
This represented an attractive yield of 7.2% at the time of announcement. To summarize, we delivered higher revenue and net profit, maintained group production broadly in line with last year, and continued to advance our growth projects.
In Egypt, production growth continued, the drilling program delivered resource upside, and overdue receivables were fully settled. In the KRI, the KM250 capacity remains available and we are focused on increasing utilization as conditions allow.
In addition, we are focused on progressing the development of Chemchemal. Commencement of gas supplies to Iraq's Ministry of Electricity this week marks an important step as we begin to realize the benefits of the KM250 expansion, expanding our customer base while supporting Iraq's growing electricity demand.
Improving collections from the KRG also remains a key priority. We continue to engage constructively with the KRG to ensure improved collections, which are an important enabler of future investment to help meet the region's growing electricity demand and to support the long-term sustainability of shareholder returns and dividend payments.
From here, our focus is on maximizing the use of our production capacity and pursuing our growth projects. As conditions allow, we are well-positioned to increase revenues, support growth, and enhance shareholder value.
Thank you. I'll happily hand back to Mohammed and we can take any questions now.
Mohammed Mubaideen
Thank you, Chris. Nour, please go ahead and moderate the Q&A session.
Thank you.
Operator
Thank you so much for the presentation. If you have a question, please raise your hand or submit your question in the Q&A box.
I'll pause momentarily until we receive our first question. We have a question from Ahmed.
Please go ahead and unmute yourself.
Hi, everyone. Can you hear me?
Hello?
Chris Hearne
Yes, we can hear you clearly. Thank you.
Okay. Perfect.
Thanks, Chris, and thanks, Mohammed. Congratulations on reading an exceptional quarter despite all the conflict and the operational challenges.
I just wanted to get some clarity on one thing and I'll step back in the queue because I have more questions, but I don't want to hog the session. Are you able to quantify the actual utilization rate for KM250 during the quarter?
Then where are we today utilization-wise after the reporting period? I'm asking this in the context of the new contract that was signed with Federal Iraq and trying to understand the implications of that going forward.
Chris Hearne
Ahmed, I may ask you to repeat the second question, but full utilization, yes. In January, we were delighted.
We got over 700 million standard cubic feet out of the plant, the new plant and the existing. Everything worked well together.
We were really pleased with how you've got an old plant right next to a new one, works extremely well. Level of trips was much below expectation.
Obviously, we all know what happened and as a result, we did have to moderate the production of the time. That was all done based on assessment from professional security and advice that we've received.
We did have to turn down. Yes, so far the capacity that KM250 has demonstrated has been extremely good.
I'm sorry, could you repeat your second question? Didn't quite catch it over the mic.
They're both the same question really. I just wanted to get a sense of what the utilization has been percentage-wise in Q2 and since Q2, since the end of the reporting period, where are we now, capacity utilization?
I'm asking that in the context of the new offtake agreement that was signed with the Federal Iraq to get an understanding of what the implications of that from a utilization standpoint.
Chris Hearne
At the moment, we're producing around 630 million standard cubic feet a day. As the plant capacity is now up to 750 million standard cubic feet.
You can see given the security situation that we had and shut down and now we've built right back up to 630. Obviously, we're looking to build that going further forward.
I'm not actually going to comment today on the gas sales to Federal Iraq. We're actually going to be making a separate announcement shortly after this call with regard to that.
Actually, I'm going to refer all of those questions on gas to Federal Iraq to that statement that we're going to be making shortly.
Okay. Fair enough.
One other question I wanted to ask is that there was a other expense of about 33 million in the quarter. Can you shed some light on what that is?
Then I also saw there was a loss from discontinued operations. Similarly, if you can provide some more context on that.
Chris Hearne
Can you say that again? We're just trying to kind of identify what number
Azfar Aboobakar
Ahmed, 33 million dirhams or dollars?
Dirhams.
Chris Hearne
Dirhams. You threw us with No, no.
Sorry. 33 million dirhams other expenses and then a 7 million loss from discontinued operations.
Chris Hearne
We really don't ever think in dirhams. We only ever think in dollars, I'm sorry.
Azfar Aboobakar
The other expenses, Ahmed, they have three components to it. One is we've got an arbitration going on against the previous EPC contractor for the KM250.
There's some costs for that. There was a $4 million of board fees, which is now being charged off.
There was a $3 million provision for overdue receivables, which we have in the joint venture. The one you referred to discontinued operations, I guess you're referring to the impairment of assets.
These were the two dry holes. There were two dry holes drilled in Egypt in the first quarter, for which we had written off $7 million.
Chris Hearne
By the way, just to mention, those were exploration-based wells. The program in Egypt is going extremely well.
We're pleased with it. Obviously, the program had development wells, lower-risk ones, but also had exploration ones, too.
It's likely to suffer some exploration disappointment. Those two were disappointing and as a result, we did write them off.
Very clear. Thanks very much for that, Chris.
I'll step back in queue.
Operator
Thank you. Our next question comes from Gus.
Please unmute yourself.
Hey, guys. Thanks for the call today, and I hope you guys are doing well.
I just wanted to follow up with some other questions. One is, in Egypt, it's really great to see that, I think this is the first time in a long time that Egypt has cleared all of its overdue receivables, and that's fantastic.
I'm just curious there's the legacy receivables that have now been fully repaid, and how are ongoing receivables being repaid as well? Is the collection rate 100%?
Is it on time? Just curious on that to start, please.
Chris Hearne
Hi, Gus. Good to hear from you.
We're all well, thanks. Hope life's good with you.
Yes, Egypt, we've been delighted. From end of last year frankly, when we got that $50 million receivable, and since then, the collection rate has been great.
I think the industry there is all being well paid. I think there's been a change of sort of policy where the government, rather than sort of drip-feeding people, has really recognized that the industry, if you give them money, will invest it.
That is a sensible thing to do given that there is domestic gas that can be recognized on behalf of the government, rather than having to import expensive gas. You're seeing the outcome of that.
Yes, we've been almost exactly fully paid up, and on an ongoing basis, they're paying on a monthly basis. We're obviously not getting the big dollops of cash that caught us up, but now going forward, we're being paid on a more regular, smaller amounts.
Yes, we're receiving that sort of in full as we go along. It's a great story.
That's great, Chris. Thanks very much.
When it comes to Chemchemal, I apologize if I missed this in the slide, but can you give us an update on what the CapEx that has been spent so far is out of the total, and also what timing looks like for first production, first revenue from that build-out? I know we're early on, but I think it's a year out if I'm correct.
Mohammed Mubaideen
Gus, with respect to Chemchemal, as we announced around 150 million CapEx. That would include the drilling of three well and then the early production facility.
We're still in early stages, we will be expected to drill the first well end of this year, early next year, and that would initiate CapEx expenditure on Chemchemal.
Thanks, Mohammed. Got it.
I just wanted to ask
Mohammed Mubaideen
Just to clarify, Gus, 150 million on gross level, so that's Pearl. Our share of that CapEx would be around 35%.
Got it. Then what kind of infrastructure, are you able to use your infrastructure at Khor Mor for any of the processing, or do you need to build out a new train at Chemchemal?
I'm just curious how that looks.
Chris Hearne
What we're talking about is a two, three wells and an extended well test facility. No, that would be done separately, not part of Khor Mor.
Then when you move to a bigger development, that obviously will be dependent on what we discover in the extended well test, and how best the economics and is to using existing infrastructure at Khor Mor or obviously building incremental facilities at the time.
That decision's
Chris Hearne
down the road.
Got it. Thank you, Chris.
The final one is just trying to understand what the impact of this conflict has been on your supply. Obviously on gas, you guys have helped quantify that, thanks for that.
What about LPG and any other liquids, residual liquids that come out? How's it impacted pricing?
How's it impacted throughput and you guys's sell-through? I know in the first quarter there was some impact in terms of pricing because it was mainly decided by domestic market given the lack of exports.
Just curious what's changed, if anything.
Chris Hearne
Gus, not much has changed, frankly. The LPG is going under those long-term contracts as it always has been.
Yes, it's a sort of local market for the condensate, so, that pricing hasn't really changed too much in the same way that you would have expected given the increase in Brent over the same period. No, not really much change.
Thank you, Chris.
Operator
Thank you for your questions. We'll have the next question from William.
Please unmute yourself.
Hi, Mohammed. Hi, Chris.
Thanks for the call. Done on a solid quarter.
My question is just on the KRI receivables and the billing. I think I see roughly 66% collection rate.
Would you be able to walk through just how that evolved on a monthly basis in Q2, given all the disruption and pressure on KRG as a whole? I guess just if you could point to the trajectory as it is now, whether the situation or the kind of liquidity you see from KRG is, or from the customers, is improving or kind of what trajectory that looks like.
Thanks.
Chris Hearne
It's a good question. Something we are focused on.
I think the collection rate was around 78% off the top of my head from Pearl during the period. Yes, no, it's an evolving story.
We have had ups and downs because given the security situation and our production going low, that's had knock-on impacts in their collections from sales of electricity to Federal Iraq, but also domestic electricity. That Renaki project is still there, it's very very important to them, and is allowing cash flow to come from the domestic consumers of electricity up to the Kurdistan Region and on to ourselves.
Now we're building back up to a production rate of around 630. We're hoping that the collection rate will now improve throughout the rest of the year.
We have just had some good receipts recently. It's something we're working on with them, and they are aware that we need to maintain strong collection rates in order to keep investing in the asset in the way that we want to, and for the benefit of the local population.
You're right, it's something we have to keep our eyes on very closely.
Great. Thanks for correcting me on the precise rate.
A follow-up is just when I look at the aging of the receivables, the not past due has improved a lot, it's the kind of 61 to 90 days where it's starting to accumulate a bit. Is there anything to note there that you would flag in how the receivables are aging, that we should keep in mind?
Chris Hearne
Not really. We've got obviously this new invoice that we've put out there, which is to do with the gas metering.
That to be fair is relatively new, will take time because the outcome of that study was done by a third party. It's relatively recent, we have invoiced for that.
Frankly, I think that might take a little bit more time. It's really focusing on the regular monthly invoices and payment of those that's our primary focus.
Also there is the historical outstanding receivable that we are still working with the government to pay off as soon as possible. I can't really give you much more detail than that.
Okay. It's that kind of outstanding metering invoice, and then you just mentioned the kind of monthly, you're quite happy with as of right now, you would say?
Chris Hearne
I could always be happier. I'm happy with Egypt right now, but I'd like to see more collection rates in Kurdistan go back to where they were before the conflict.
Okay.
Mohammed Mubaideen
Nour, just if you would allow me, I just want to refer to the question that was received from Moteb Al-Shathry in relation to a statement made by the KRG on the gas supplies to Federal Iraq. We made a statement on the ADX in relation to that, I would like to refer you to that statement, which would provide our point of view in relation to that.
We can continue the Q&A, please.
Great. No, I think you covered my questions, thanks, guys, and good luck for the rest of the Thanks, William.
Chris Hearne
Thanks for the questions, William. Appreciate it.
Pleasure.
Operator
Thank you. We'll take our next question from the Q&A box.
Congratulations on an excellent set of results amid a challenging environment. What are the pricing terms for the Ministry of Electricity of Iraq contract?
Chris Hearne
At the moment, that is a sort of a confidential commercial issue, and at the moment, we're not announcing those terms at the moment.
Operator
Clear. Another question from Maryam: "Thank you very much for the presentation and congratulations on a successful and resilient quarter.
I just wanted some clarity around the impact of KRG statement." It's the same question actually that we've received earlier.
"Secondly, can you share the latest progress on the common user pipeline in the Kurdistan Region?"
Chris Hearne
As it's not within our control that's something that's being built by a third party. I understand from what I've had reported to me that it's going well and that we're still, Mohammed, on track for the end of the fourth quarter.
Again, I'm only repeating what I've been told by third parties. That's not a Dana Gas project or something that I can give you definitive insight into.
Operator
Clear. Have a question from Felix saying, "Will the shareholders support Pearl with an equity capital injection if needed amid the current market and security context?"
Chris Hearne
We have no current plans for any equity offering. The company is in a robust financial situation.
In fact, I don't think we've done an equity raise since our initial IPO back in 2004, 2005. We have no current plans for an equity offering.
Is there a follow-up question to that, or
Operator
Clear. Thank you.
That's clear now. Another question from broadly flat Q-on-Q despite the total debt in
Chris Hearne
Sorry, we've lost you.
Mohammed Mubaideen
Nour,
Chris Hearne
are you still there? Hello?
Nour, have we lost you? I think we may have lost our moderator.
We'll try and answer some questions that we can just about read on the screen here. There's a question about finance costs remain broadly flat Q-on-Q despite total debt increasing.
Could you explain the reason by the limited increase in financing costs? Actually, I think our financing costs are increasing.
As during the project that we completed for the KM250, during the construction phase, CapEx costs and finance costs are capitalized during construction, and those are amortized. There was an increase in our finance cost, and that represents the amortization through the P&L of those finance costs that were built up as part of the funding of the project.
Hi, and yes, we have another question about the reported gas quarterly production, which was 28.5 thousands barrel per day. However, the 2Q 26 presentation number for Q2 is revised to 30.2 thousands barrels per day.
Can you provide clarification on this increase in production?
Chris Hearne
Yes, well noted. That was a difference in the calculation method.
Azfar, can you give the actual
Azfar Aboobakar
Our independent reserve auditors, GaffneyCline, they have suggested a conversion rate of 5.6, which is to be used for converting gas to boe, and that has been applied in the 26 numbers and then 25 has been reinstated accordingly.
Clear. A follow-up on Ahmed's question: "Do we expect the operating cost to normalize going forward?"
Chris Hearne
Yes, we do. Obviously, there is more operating costs now that we're running another facility, the KM250.
There is operating costs there. As the production increases to the expected output, that will normalize between the costs and production.
Clear. The fourth question: "Could management provide an update on realized gas prices across the KRI and Egypt in 2Q 2026, and how these prices compare with the previous quarter?"
Chris Hearne
Yes, I think we actually have a slide on that in the presentation. The Egypt flat on gas prices, but the gas price in the KRI increased just over 10% during the period, linked to Brent.
Azfar Aboobakar
Refer to page
Chris Hearne
Oh, it's page 10 of the presentation, you can see that on there.
Clear. Another question on the case and this has been tackled.
The third question from Moteb is: "Turning to the long-running Crescent Petroleum, Crescent Gas arbitration awards against the National Iranian Oil Company, could you provide an update on the status of enforcement proceedings across the various jurisdictions and any recent recoveries or asset attachments, the current carrying value and interest accrued in Dana Gas's share of the first award, and the progress of the second arbitration covering the remaining term of the gas sales contract?"
Chris Hearne
Yes. As this is something that is being pursued by our sister company, Crescent Petroleum.
It's not actually Dana Gas itself that is in the frontline of pursuing that. As you're probably aware, we make all public statements when we're informed of any material developments by Crescent Petroleum, the fact we haven't done any means that there isn't really anything new to report.
Enforcement is ongoing against NIOC in various jurisdictions, and as soon as we get any progress on that, we will be announcing it. We have a receivable on our balance sheet of around $607 million.
We have not booked the interest of that at the moment, and that's in accordance with the treatment that we've agreed with our auditors, Ernst & Young. That amount has stayed there from the very beginning and the numbers stayed there.
I think it's 100 $165 million, I think, rather than 67. Nothing new to update you on, but we will do in the ordinary course of events as soon as any news becomes available.
Clear, thank you.
Operator
Thank you so much. There are no further questions in the Q&A box or hands raised, we'll turn it back to management for conclusion.
We have actually one last one from Ali Al Nasser: "In the answer about the receivable collection, you referred to KRG going back to the pre-war collection pace. Can you give us sense of what is the pre-war and what is it now?"
Chris Hearne
No, I said, I'd like them to go back to full regular monthly payments as soon as we can.
Azfar Aboobakar
As in 2025, they were catching up on all overdue receivables, but as a result of the latest events which impacted the whole Iraq, we saw some payment in the payments. We did receive a significant payment recently and we hope that this would continue going on forward.
We need always to remember that the liquids are sold to third party locally, but to third party, and the payments with respect to our liquids, which it's around 40% to 50% of our revenue in Kurdistan, has been regular.
Chris Hearne
Obviously, thank you all for the questions and joining the call on a Friday afternoon. We appreciate so many people attending and having so many questions.
Anything further, please contact Mohammed in the ordinary course of events if anything else crops up. Other than that, thank you
Azfar Aboobakar
and Nour
Chris Hearne
and your team for the call today.
Operator
Thank you so much, everyone, for joining. This concludes our call for today.
You can now disconnect. Thank you.
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