ABU DHABI, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Dana Gas of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on Thursday that its revenue from oil and gas production reached 581 million dirhams (158.31 million U.S. dollars) in the first half of 2008, up 31 percent over the same period of 2007.

    The Sharjah-based Dana Gas, the largest private natural gas company in the Middle East, recorded 306 million dirhams of EBITDA(earnings before interest, depreciation and depletion and income tax) (52 million dollars) in the first six months of 2008, up 60 percent compared with 191 million in the 2007 period, according toa statement by the company.

    "This year is of great significance to Dana Gas, as we build on a healthy financial position, with the start up soon of our major projects in both the UAE and northern Iraq, which will provide a major boost in propelling Dana Gas to the next level and add significant value to our shareholders," the company's executive chairman Hamid Jafar said.

    "In our major project in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the construction of the 180-km pipeline and the first phase processing facilities have now been completed and is in the process of testing and commissioning in preparation for first gas production in the coming few weeks," he added.

    Dana Gas is currently implementing a major integrated gas project in Iraq's Kurdish region, which is the largest private sector energy project in Iraq involving gas development, production, processing and pipeline construction.

    The project is scheduled to start gas production in the middle of 2008 and its production is expected to reach 300 million cubic feet per day by the year-end.

    In the UAE, Dana Gas has recently acquired a 25-year offshore license for exploiting gas in an area of over 1,000 square km in Sharjah.

    In addition, Dana Gas has established itself as the sixth largest producer of gas in Egypt with the capability of producing 140 million cubic feet per day.

    The company said in March that it would pour 170 million dollars into its drilling program in Egypt in 2008, which involved15 exploration wells and four development wells.

    Established in late 2005, Dana Gas has assets and projects in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors of the natural gas industries of the UAE, Egypt and Iraq.