Petronet LNG net doubles

Spelling out its plans to double the capacity of its Dahej terminal, Petronet LNG on Wednesday reported more than doubling of its net profit in the quarter ended June 30 on higher sales.

Talking to reporters here, Petronet Managing Director A. K. Balyan said the net profit rose to Rs.256.70 crore in April-June period from Rs.111.37 crore a year earlier. “The profit has been higher because we were able to re-gasify and send more volumes. The Dahej terminal processed 2.62 million tonnes of LNG in the quarter as compared to 1.87 million tonnes a year-ago,'' he remarked.

Mr. Balyan said Petronet planned to expand its Dahej terminal capacity to 15 million tonnes year from the current 10 million tonnes annually by 2015. He said the company was also planning to set up a 5 million tonne terminal on the East Coast at a cost of $1 billion and the board has approved a detailed feasibility report (DFR) for this terminal.

The pre-feasibility report had suggested 5-6 locations, including Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. The DFR would list the priorities of the locations. The Dahej expansion would partly be funded by GAIL (India) and GSPC, which have sought dedicated capacity in the terminal for importing their own volumes. A 5-million tonne terminal is coming up in Kochi in Kerala by the end of 2012.

Mr. Balyan said Petronet was talking to countries like Qatar and Australia for long-term supplies. Besides the long-term imports from RasGas of Qatar, Petronet imported nine cargoes from the spot market and leased out its terminal for import of another six cargoes by companies like state-run GAIL. During this fiscal, the company plans to import 10 cargoes from the spot market, he said.

Petronet, he said, was seeking 2-4 million tonnes of additional LNG on a long term contract from Qatar.