Dragon Oil Holdings LLC is an independent international oil and gas exploration, development and production business. It is based and registered in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

and its operations are primarily located in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

. The company was listed on the

Irish Stock Exchange Euronext Dublin (formerly the Irish Stock Exchange, ISE; ) is Ireland's main stock exchange, and has been in existence since 1793. The Euronext Dublin lists debt and fund securities and is used as a European gateway exchange for companies seek ...

until it was acquired by the

Emirates National Oil Company ENOC (the Emirates National Oil Company) is a global diversified state-owned energy group that operates in the oil, gas, and coal industry. History Established in 1993, ENOC is a wholly owned company of the Government of Dubai, through the Inve ...

(ENOC). It is now a wholly owned upstream subsidiary of the ENOC-Group.

History

The company was established as Oliver Prospecting & Mining Co. Limited in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

by Oliver Waldron in 1971. It changed its name to Dragon Oil in 1993 and invested in the Cheleken oilfield. The Emirates National Oil Company bought a majority stake in the company in 1999 and the headquarters were moved to Dubai that same year. In 1999, Dragon Oil signed a

Production sharing agreement Production sharing agreements (PSAs) or production sharing contracts (PSCs) are a common type of contract signed between a government and a resource extraction company (or group of companies) concerning how much of the resource (usually oil) extra ...

(PSA) with the Government of

, aiming to re-develop the Cheleken field in the Caspian Sea. The current PSA expires in 2025. Between 2002 and 2005 Dragon Oil raised capital for exploration. In the period 2005 to 2015 in total eight exploration licences were taken in Algeria (2), Tunisia (1), the Filippines (1), Afghanistan (2), Iraq (1) and Egypt (1) (see the detailed information below in "Operations"). These were partly operated partly in JV partnership, and a separate, new DragonOil Exploration Department with new staff was set up to manage these assets. In 2012 Dragon Oil launched a $200 million

share buyback Share repurchase, also known as share buyback or stock buyback, is the reacquisition by a company of its own shares. It represents an alternate and more flexible way (relative to dividends) of returning money to shareholders. Repurchases allow s ...

and the shares in Dubai rose 7 %. In 2013

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

ranked Dragon Oil on

Forbes Global 2000 The ''Forbes'' Global 2000 is an annual ranking of the top 2000 public companies in the world, published by: sales, profit, assets and market value. The list has been published annually since 2003. By country Forbes Global 2000 as of 2023: ...

at place 1902. From 2012 to 2015, Dragon Oil suffered setbacks caused by several delivery delays of a drilling platform, an important part of the companies progress in the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

. In June 2015 the Emirates National Oil Company acquired the remaining 46% of Dragon Oil for £3.7 billion, becoming the sole owner of Dragon Oil. ENOC had attempted to buy the remaining

percentage In mathematics, a percentage () is a number or ratio expressed as a fraction (mathematics), fraction of 100. It is often Denotation, denoted using the ''percent sign'' (%), although the abbreviations ''pct.'', ''pct'', and sometimes ''pc'' are ...

since 2009, at 455p a share, and offered 650p in March 2015. The final price was 800p a share, after extensive back and forth with different minority

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

s. The company was delisted from the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

as of 7 September 2015. In November 2015, the company was in talks to invest around $10 billion into a

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

pipeline A pipeline is a system of Pipe (fluid conveyance), pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries ...

, the Tapi project, from Turkmenistan to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. In 2016, Dragon pre-qualified for a bidding round for different new oil fields under new contract terms in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and took part in a bidding round in 2018. In August 2017, Dragon Oil signed a five-year contract with Topaz Energy & Marine for the delivery of six new offshore vessels, including five anchor-handlers and one Emergency Recovery and Response Vessel. In 2018 Dragon Oil recorded a production of . In 2019 the company announced its plans to triple the production by 2025 as part of its upstream investment drive. In the next 10 years the company wanted to spend $13 billion to targets a higher production.

Overview of personnel

The board of directors consists of Chairman Sheikh

Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum (, '; 25 December 1945 – 24 March 2021) was an Emirati politician, the deputy ruler of Dubai and the minister of finance and industry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He was the second son of the late rul ...

and Vice Chairman Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer. Other board members are Abdulrahman Al Saleh, Hussain Hassan Mirza Al Sayegh, Ahmad Buti Al Muhairbi, Ahmad Sharaf, and Abdulrahman Al Awar. The company's CEO is Ali Rashid Al Jarwan and its Assistant CEO is Faisal Rabee Al Awadhi. Other members of the senior management team are Fareed Abdulla Al Hashmi, Executive Director - Petroleum Development, Ahmad Ali Bin Obood, Director of Finance and Planning, Mana Bin Qutami, Executive Director of Corporate Services and Tayeb Huwair, Executive Director – Engineering & Projects.

Operations

Dragon Oils headquarters is in

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

with all of the senior management based on site. Further offices are located in

Mazar-i-Sharif Mazar-i-Sharīf ( ; Dari and ), also known as Mazar-e Sharīf or simply Mazar, is the fifth-largest city in Afghanistan by population, with the estimates varying from 500,000-680,000. It is the capital of Balkh province and is linked by highway ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. Its principal producing asset is at Cheleken, in the eastern section of the

, offshore from

. It is also involved in exploration activities in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. The field is operated from the onshore base near the town of Hazar, Turkmenistan. In 2009 to 2010, Dragon Oil reached a production level of of oil per day from Chekelen and from 2011-2014, between of oil per day overall production capacity. The field holds an estimated of oil and condensates, and of gas reserves. The company produced an average of of oil per day in 2011, 76,600 in 2012, 73,750 in 2013 and 44,000 in 2014. By 2015, Dragon aimed to reach per day, by adding around of oil per day in production capacity through M&A's. Production from Cheleken reached of oil per day in June 2015. It is also involved in exploration activities in Afghanistan (Sanduqli and

blocks), Algeria (Tinrhert Nord Perimeter and Msari Akabli Perimeter), Egypt (East Zeit Bay), Iraq (Block 9) and Tunisia (the Bargou Exploration Permit). The legal process behind the

n contracts has been questioned by Tunisian corruption watchdog I WATCH. Past operations also include the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, where Dragon Oil explored in the offshore

Palawan Palawan (, ), officially the Province of Palawan (; ), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of . The capital and largest c ...

Basin under agreement SC 63 until November 2015.

References

External links

{{Portal, United Arab Emirates, Energy
Official Dragon Oil website
Oil and gas companies of the United Arab Emirates Companies based in Dubai Energy companies established in 1971 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1971 1971 establishments in the United Arab Emirates