Dolphin Energy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced here on Monday that it has produced the first gas from its wells in Qatar.

This is a major step of the company's Dolphin Gas Project, which involves the production and processing of natural gas from Qatar's North Field and transportation of the dry gas to the UAE and Oman.

"Raw gas is now being transported by dedicated sealine to Dolphin Energy's brand-new gas processing plant at Ras Laffan Industrial City in northern Qatar," a press release by the Abu Dhabi-based Dolphin Energy said.

"This gas is currently being used in testing all aspects of the plant, as start-up procedures and safety checks are undertaken," the press release added.

Once all procedures are tested and verified, up to 2 billion standard cubic feet of refined methane gas will be compressed each day for transport to the UAE through the company's export pipeline.

Established in March 1999, Dolphin Energy is owned 51 percent by Mubadala Development Company on behalf of the government of Abu Dhabi, and 24.5 percent each by Total of France and Occidental Petroleum of the United States.