Page 15 - MEOG Week 29 2021

MEOG NEWS IN BRIEF MEOG

COMPANIES a “puzzle” for Saudi Aramco to solve, but Pearl Petroleum over this period. For the same
the exact reason behind the choice remains period, the Dana Gas share of Pearl Revenue
Aramco data breach sees 1 unclear. The group says that the 1 TB dump was $87 million, EBITDA $74 million, Net
Income $57.4 million, Cash Balances $61
includes documents pertaining to Saudi
TB stolen data for sale Aramco’s refineries located in multiple Saudi million and Gross Debt $93 million. The
Arabian cities, including Yanbu, Jazan, Jeddah, Company share of total KM 250 expansion
Attackers have stolen 1 TB of proprietary data Ras Tanura, Riyadh, and Dhahran. CAPEX is $220 million, which will be funded
belonging to Saudi Aramco and are offering it Samples released by ZeroX on the leak at the Pearl level. Dana Gas share of Pearl
for sale on the darknet. site have personally identifiable information Petroleum production for the first half 2021
The Saudi Arabian Oil Company, better (PII) redacted, and a 1 GB sample alone costs averaged 150 MMscf/d of gas, 5,250 bbls/d
known as Saudi Aramco, is one of the largest US$2,000, paid as Monero (XMR). condensate and 350 MT/d of LPG.
public petroleum and natural gas companies The threat actor, however, did share a In Egypt, Dana Gas collected $98
in the world. The oil giant employs over few recent unredacted documents with million during H1 2021, compared to $43
66,000 employees and brings in almost $230 BleepingComputer for confirmation. million received in the same period of 2020,
billion in annual revenue. The price of the entire 1 TB dump is set at representing a 128% increase.
The threat actors are offering Saudi US$5 million, although the threat actors say, Dr Patrick Allman-Ward, CEO of Dana
Aramco’s data starting at a negotiable price of the amount is negotiable. Gas, said: “This is one of our best collection
$5 million. Saudi Aramco has pinned this data A party requesting for an exclusive, periods in the past several years, driven
incident on third-party contractors and tells one-off sale (i.e. obtain the complete 1 TB and supported by the strong rebound in oil
BleepingComputer that the incident had no dump and demand it be wiped completely prices. The respective governments of both
impact on Aramco’s operations. from ZeroX’s end) is expected to pay a the KRI and Egypt are meeting their payment
This month, a threat actor group known whopping US$50 million. ZeroX shared with obligations, ensuring the petroleum industry
as ZeroX is offering 1 TB of proprietary data BleepingComputer that up until this point, investors are receiving their current monies on
belonging to Saudi Aramco for sale. they have been negotiating the sale with five time and catching up on overdue payments.
ZeroX claims the data was stolen by buyers. This provides us with the confidence to
hacking Aramco’s “network and its servers,” BLEEPING COMPUTER reinvest in our operations, notably in the KRI
sometime in 2020. As such, the files in the where our expansion plans are well underway.
dump are as recent as 2020, with some dating Dana Gas’s collections We are in the process of constructing our
back to 1993, according to the group. new KM250 gas train which is on track for
When asked by BleepingComputer as to more than doubled in H1 first gas in Q2 2023. In Egypt, we continue to
what method was used to gain access to the work diligently to maintain production and to
systems, the group did not explicitly spell out 2021 prepare for drilling our exciting exploration
the vulnerability but instead called it “zero- well in our offshore Block 6 Concession Area
day exploitation.” Dana Gas announced this week that its H1 which holds material potential of over 20 Tcf
To create traction among prospective 2021 collections from the Kurdistan Region of of gas resources.”
buyers, a small sample set of Aramco’s Iraq (KRI), and Egypt, have increased 106% DANA GAS
blueprints and proprietary documents with year-on-year to $185 million (AED 678m), the
redacted PII were first posted on a data breach highest level in more than five years. Delay in nuclear talks a
marketplace forum in June this year. Dana Gas, which owns a 35% stake in
However, at the time of initial posting, the Pearl Petroleum, saw its share of collections serious blow to economy,
.onion leak site had a countdown timer set to from sales of condensate, LPG and gas in
662 hours, or about 28 days, after which the the KRI jump 85% to $87 million in the first say pundits
sale and negotiations would begin. half 2021 as compared to $47 million in the
ZeroX told BleepingComputer that the same period the previous year. The Company A former political adviser to Iran’s outgoing
choice of “662 hours,” was intentional and received cash dividends of $48.3 million from President Hassan Rouhani says Ebrahim

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