OSLO, May 6 (Reuters) - Norway's DNO on Thursday
upped its guidance for production from the Tawke oilfields in
Iraq's Kurdistan region and reported its first quarterly profit
since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as oil prices rose.
The Oslo-listed company now expects daily gross output from
Tawke, which consists of two fields, Tawke and Peshkabir, of
110,000 barrels in 2021 compared to 100,000 barrels seen in
February.
The company reported an operating profit of $66 million for
the January-March quarter compared to a loss of $11.5 million in
the same period a year ago.
"DNO, like our peers, is positioned for strong cash flow in
2021 with the firming up of oil demand and prices," said DNO's
Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani.
Production from the Tawke license stood at gross 112,000
barrels per day (bpd) in the first quarter, helped by natural
gas injection.
DNO operates the license and has a 75% stake, while Genel
Energy has the remaining 25%.
DNO's net oil and gas output in the first quarter, including
production from the North Sea, stood at 99,200 barrels per day.
The company maintained its full-year spending guidance at
$700 million, including $270 million in capital spending.
DNO said the regional government of Kurdistan owed it $239
million in previously withheld payments for Tawke production,
but two-thirds of the sum could be repaid by the end of the year
at the current oil price level.
(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Terje Solsvik)