Norwegian oil firm predicts profit loss from Yemen’s poor production [Archives:2008/1130/Local News]

SANA'A, Feb, 17 ) Norwegian Oil Company DNO said it expects to post operating profit losses for the quarter partly because of poor petrol production in Yemen.

DNO reported in a press conference on Friday that their production in Yemen hasn't lived up to the company's expectations, producing 2,000 fewer barrels of oil this year than it did last year.

Reuters News Agency reported that oil industry analysts were not upbeat about the company's 2008 profits in part because of DNO's reserves falling by 10.8 million barrels in Yemen.

Additional problems came from the company's oil fields in northern Iraq, where they have yet to acquire an export license and have been transporting oil by truck from the autonomous Kurdish region.

DNO's Chief Executive Helge Eide remained positive even though the company's stock fell 9.4 percent on the Oslo bourse when the forecast was announced. “We have an extensive program in Yemen and in Kurdistan with great potential,” said Eide.

Eide also praised the company's drilling efforts in new Yemeni on-shore wells, and said that the annual production from that region was in line with DNO's target for the fiscal year.

The company, which first invested in Yemen's oil sector in 1998, also has contracts to drill in Equatorial New Guinea, Mozambique and Syria. DNO was also the first company to explore drilling options for oil in post-war Iraq.
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