Kurdish-focused energy company DNO International said revenues for last year were sharply lower, though it ended 2015 with an increase in cash balance.

DNO, which has headquarters in Oslo, said revenues of $187 million for last year were down 59 percent year-on-year. More than 80 percent of the revenue was derived from its assets in the Kurdish north of Iraq.

DNO and its partners at Genel Energy, a British company, announced earlier this week they received a joint payment of nearly $18 million from the semiautonomous Kurdish government for crude oil exported in January and another $3.6 million for outstanding entitlements.

"The export payment arrangement just put in place provides regularity, predictability and transparency, thereby laying the foundation for stepped up investments in Kurdistan," DNO Executive Chairman Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani said in a statement.

The company did not escape damage from the weak crude oil market. Capital spending last year was cut by more than 80 percent to $51 million because of early 2015 payment obstacles with the Kurdish government and lower global crude oil prices.

The company recorded a $14.8 million impairment in 2014 and another $24.2 million charge last year. Nevertheless, the company said five straight months of Kurdish government payments laid the foundation for higher spending this year in the region.

"As much of the industry continues to hunker down, DNO's foot is coming off the brake and pressing on the accelerator," the executive chairman said.

The company ended the year with a cash balance of $238 million, up from the $114 million from 2014.