Petronet files draft IPO

Domestic float to raise Rs 400 crore

Petronet LNG Limited (PLL) filed a draft prospectus for an initial public offering (IPO) of 261 million shares, representing 35 per cent of the company's equity, to raise around Rs 400 crore.

The IPO might hit the market in the second week of February, Suresh Mathur, CEO and managing director of Petronet, told the media on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference here today.

Mathur said while Petronet had indicated a price band of Rs 16-18 for the IPO, merchant bankers had indicated a premium of Rs 40 a share. The IPO will be conducted through the book-building route and the shares will only be offloaded in the domestic market.

He said Petronet had tied up sales of 2.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) with Gail (India) Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation. While Gail will pick up 60 per cent of the output, IOC will take 30 per cent and Bharat Petroleum the rest.

Mathur said the ex-terminal price of LNG had been fixed at $3.27 per standard cubic metres. The price for consumers will depend on the distance from the Dahej terminal and local taxes.

The Petronet managing director said while power, fertiliser, automobile and steel plants were the usual consumers of LNG, refineries had emerged as new customers for the company. Refineries, which had been using naphtha for their hydrogen requirements, were turning to LNG as it was cheaper and safer.

Earlier, inaugurating the conference, Petroleum Minister Ram Naik said the LNG import terminal at Dahej in Gujarat was complete and would receive its first shipment from Qatar on January 31.

The minister said a 138,000 cubic metre-capacity cryogenic ship, Disha, had sailed from South Korea for Qatar on January 9. It will reach Qatar on January 24, sail for Dahej on January 27 and dock in India on January 31.