Dana Petroleum, the Aberdeen-based oil and gas exploration company, made a maiden profit of £606,000 sterling (€933,000) in the first half of 1999, the company announced yesterday.

Turnover for the six months to June 30th was down to £8.6 million (€13.4 million) from £10.2 million, due mainly to significantly lower oil prices. During the half-year, Dana reached record oil and gas production of 6,430 barrels of oil equivalent per day.