United Arab Emirates-based Dana Gas said its first-quarter net profit rose to 25 million dirhams ($6.81 million), up 19 percent from the year-ago period, helped by record oil prices.

The company's revenues from oil and gas production in the three months ending March 31 grew to 272 million dirhams, an increase of 35 percent over the same period last year, it said in a statement.

"Comparing this year's first quarter with last year's first quarter, the growth was mainly driven by an increase in oil prices that have resulted in high returns," finance director Neeraj Agrawal told Reuters.

Production from the firm's Egypt operations, presently its sole source of output, in the first quarter remained constant at about 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a rate it plans to keep steady for the rest of the year, Agrawal said.

The company's project in Iraq's Kurdish region, 80 percent of which has been completed thus far, is expected to be ready for production by the end of July and contribute to profit in the third quarter, he added. - Reuters