Petronet LNG Ltd, India's biggest liquefied natural gas importer, today reported a 19 per cent rise in its December quarter net profit on back of increase in gas volumes.
Net profit in October-December at Rs 162 crore was 19 per cent more than Rs 136 crore net profit in the same period last fiscal, Petronet Managing Director & CEO A K Balyan told reporters here.
"The reason for this increase in profit is an overall increase in volumes," he said.
However, as compared to the previous quarter, the profit has decreased by about 38 per cent to Rs 162 crore in this quarter ended December 31, 2014 from Rs 263 crore in the corresponding quarter in the preceding year.
"This sharp decrease is on account of lower trading margins and lower volumes. This is primarily attributable to sudden drop in crude and product prices and changes in the domestic market conditions," he said.
He said the company's Dahej import terminal in Gujarat operated at around 110 per cent of its name plate capacity.
The volume regasified at the Dahej terminal during the third quarter of FY 2014-15 was 140.42 trillion British thermal units.
The Kochi terminal, commissioned last year, however processed 0.99 TBtus of LNG serving the Kochi Refinery in the vicinity of the terminal with a capacity utilisation of 1.6 per cent.
The total volume processed at 141.41 TBtus in December 2014 quarter compares with a volume of 150.47 TBtus in the previous quarter and 123.49 TBtus in the corresponding quarter of the preceding year.
The work for expansion of Dahej LNG terminal from 10 million tonnes per annum to 15 million tonnes is going on as per schedule and this capacity expansion is expected to be complete by end of the year 2016, he said.
