DNO Weighs Syria Export Route as Q3 Operating Profit Hits Record $641M

DNO is studying whether it can move its Kurdish crude out through Syria and onto the Mediterranean, where the barrels would sell for more than they fetch locally. The Norwegian operator set out the idea on Thursday as it reported record quarterly revenue and operating profit.

Output from the Tawke licence restarted at midyear, and stronger prices across the portfolio pushed revenue to $1 billion and operating profit to $641 million, a 46% gain on the prior quarter.

An export corridor through Syria

Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani told investors and analysts that the civil war had shut off a westward route, and that the door now looks open again. "There are possibilities now that have opened up for movements of oil to the Mediterranean through Syria, which was previously closed due to the civil war there," he said.

There are possibilities now that have opened up for movements of oil to the Mediterranean through Syria, which was previously closed due to the civil war there,

The company currently places crude from Tawke and Peshkabir in the local market. It averaged $38.5 a barrel in the third quarter, against $31.2 a year earlier, though that sits far under international benchmarks. This month DNO lifted the price on its Kurdistan sales to $45 a barrel, close to 50% above where it stood at the start of 2026. Buyers paid in advance, into the company's international bank accounts, before each delivery.

"We continue to work hard to get our oil back into international markets or connect it to international prices in some manner," Mossavar-Rahmani said.

In July the US backed a plan to bring back a pipeline running from northern Iraq to Syria's Mediterranean coast. People familiar with the project have said it would take years and billions of dollars before it could operate. Mossavar-Rahmani noted that southern Iraqi crude is already being trucked to pipelines in Türkiye and to Syria for export.

Drilling picks up in Kurdistan

DNO holds a 75% interest in the Tawke licence, where it halted work for four months as a precaution after drone and missile attacks intensified across the Middle East. Production came back at midyear. Gross operated output reached 73,200 barrels a day in the third quarter, and the licence is expected to average 50,000 barrels a day across the full year. Tawke and Peshkabir together produced 77,621 barrels a day gross in the quarter.

Two rigs now work the eight-well programme that began shortly before the end of 2025; the second, supplied by a third party, arrived during the quarter. DNO is the most active operator in Kurdistan, intends to drill more in 2027, and may take on a third large rig. It is also weighing exploration outside the footprint it currently produces from.

Net output climbs

Net production rose 61% from the second quarter to 142,800 barrels of oil equivalent a day. The North Sea accounted for 85,400, Kurdistan 54,900 and West Africa 2,500.

With maintenance for 2026 mostly finished, the North Sea is expected to average about 86,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day for the year. DNO still aims for 100,000 from the region by 2030.

Revenue of $1 billion was a third higher than the previous quarter and the highest the company has posted. Operating profit of $641 million was also a record, and net profit rose 21% to $101 million.

Portfolio moves and payout

Five field developments have come on stream offshore Norway since 2025. Six more are being executed and another six are nearing a final investment decision, all scheduled to produce before 2030.

During the quarter DNO sold its Côte d'Ivoire business, booking an annualised return of 24% on what it invested after entering the country in October 2022.

The board declared a quarterly dividend of NOK 0.4 a share, payable in November and unchanged for a sixth consecutive quarter.