Companies: DGO   

Following delays, Dragon Oil, an Irish registered company operating out of Turkmenistan, has commenced drilling of the first of three new wells on the offshore Lam field, part of the Cheleken block (from which it already produces in excess of 7,500 barrels of oil per day, from 17 wells). Lam 22-101, the first well to be drilled in the block since the late 1980s, is intended to be a producing well, though results from it will dictate whether more wells will be drilled within the Lam 22 area (there is apparently potential for up to six). Dragon, which is 69%-owned by the Emirates National Oil Company, made pre-tax profits of US$1.5m for the six months to 30 June, compared to a loss of US$3.1m for the equivalent period in 1999, due mostly to higher oil prices.