Adgas reports surge in income

Higher prices and production boosted the net income of government-controlled Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company (Adgas) by nearly 34 per cent in 2011, the company said in its latest monthly bulletin. Net profits by one of the world’s largest gas firms stood at around $1.1 billion (Dhfour billion) last year compared with $850 million (Dh3.11 billion) in 2010, said the report, published in the Arabic language daily Alkhaleej. It said the net earnings soared on the back of a sharp rise in the company’s total sales to Dh21 billion from Dh17 billion, an increase of 23.5 per cent. Adgas, which is not listed on the stock market, rarely publishes financial results and the report did not give reasons for the surge in sales. But analysts attributed it to higher gas prices in 2011 and an increase in Adgas’s output as the company and other hydrocarbon producers in Abu Dhabi are pushing ahead with plans to expand production capacity. Gas prices in the global market have become generally linked to oil prices which leaped by nearly 50 per cent to an average $105 a barrel in 2011. Adgas is one of two key ADNOC-affiliated companies producing gas in Abu Dhabi, which controls more than 200 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 92 billion barrels of crude oil. The other firm is Gasco.