Petronet LNG profit hits record high on rising regas volumes

Petronet LNG, India’s largest importer of liquefied natural gas, reported the highest ever profit for the six month period boosted by record processed volumes. 

The LNG importer processed a total of 217 trillion British thermal units (tBtu) of liquefied natural gas during the quarter ended September 30. This compares to 220 tBtu during the previous quarter and 220 tBtu in the corresponding quarter last year.

However, for the first six months of the fiscal year 2018-2019, Petronet LNG said it has processed highest ever volume of 437 tBtu, 6 percent above the 412 tBtu recorded in the corresponding period last year.

This all impacted the company’s net profit after tax which reached 5.63 billion rupees ($77.1 million), dropping off from first 5.87 billion rupees and 5.89 billion rupees reported in the previous quarter and the corresponding quarter of last year, respectively.

Looking at the first six months of the year 2018-19, Petronet LNG’s profit after tax hit a record high of 11.5 billion rupees ($155.6 million) growing 12 percent over 10.3 billion rupees reported in the corresponding period last year.

Petronet LNG attributed the rise in profit to higher volumes processed due to the increase in regasification capacity of the Dahej terminal and better efficiency in operations.

The company’s Dahej terminal has operated at around 110 percent of its nameplate capacity and processed a volume of 211 tBtu of LNG in the current quarter, compared to 214 tBtu in the previous quarter and 210 tBtu in the corresponding quarter.

Kochi terminal handled 6 tBtus of LNG, Petronet LNG said.