Petronet LNG Ltd, the nation's largest liquefied natural gas importer, today reported more than doubling of its net profit in the quarter ended March 31 on higher sales.
Net profit in January-March period rose to Rs 206.27 crore from Rs 97.29 crore a year earlier, Petronet Managing Director and CEO A K Balyan told reporters here.
"There are three reasons for this higher profit. First, we have done more volume (of LNG imports and sales). Then, our regasification charge increased 5% and lastly, our internal efficiency improved," he said.
Petronet imports 7.5 million tonnes a year of LNG from Qatar on a long-term contract. Besides, it has tied up import of 1.5 million tonnes on a two-year contract with Spanish firm Gas Natural.
The company in all will get 22 cargoes from Gas Natural - 12 in 2011 and the remaining 10 in next year. Petronet got its first cargo under the contract earlier this year and it was priced around USD 10.3 per million British thermal unit.
Turnover rose to Rs 3,985.96 crore in Q4 of 2010-11 fiscal from Rs 2385.45 crore in the same period a year ago.
Balyan said the company operated its Dahej import facility in Gujarat at its full capacity of 10 million tonnes a year in 2010-11 fiscal.
Besides the long term imports from RasGas of Qatar, Petronet imported 9 cargoes from the spot market and leased out its terminal for import of another 11 cargoes by firms like state-run GAIL India Ltd.
During this fiscal, the company plans to import 10 cargoes from the spot market, he said.
Petronet, he said, was seeking 2 to 4 million tonnes of additional LNG on a long term contract from Qatar. "Their (Qatar's) team was here last month and we expect a response from them by May."
The company, which is 50 per cent owned by state-run Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum, GAIL and Oil and Natural Gas Corp, will commission a 5 million tonnes import facility at Kochi in Kerala by next year end.
For Kochi, it has tied up 1.5 million tonnes of imports from Gorgon project in Australia and is looking to fill the remaining volumes through imports from countries like Qatar, he said.
Balyan said net profit in the 2010-11 full fiscal was Rs 619.61 crore as against Rs 404.49 crore in the previous financial year. Turnover soared to Rs 13,197.28 crore from Rs 10,649.08 crore in 2009-10.
