| Date: |
08-11-2014 |
| Subject: |
Petronet Q2 profit up 45%, to expand capacity |
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NEW DELHI: Petronet LNG Ltd plans to expand the capacity of its liquid gas import terminal at Dahej in Gujarat further by 2.5 million tonne to 17.5 million tonne per annum, even as it posted its highest-ever quarterly profit on Friday.
"Main reason for the jump in net profit was higher volumes of imports and incresed trading margin on spot and short-term cargos at Dahej terminal," company CEO Ashok Kumar Balyan said.
Net profit in the July-September quarter rose 44.5% to Rs 262.8 crore from Rs 181.8 crore in the previous corresponding period. The Dahej terminal is being expanded to 15 million tonnes a year by the end of 2016. The company board on Friday approved plan to examine the prospects for raising the capacity by another 2.5 million tonnes, Balyan said. This would make Dahej one of the largest single-location liquid gas import terminal in the world.
The additional capacity would be added by building additional tank and facility to regassify the imported liquid gas. Dahej currently has four storage tanks and two more are being built as part of expansion to 15 million tonne.
Petronet has another terminal with 5 million tonne per annum capacity at Kochi in Kerala. But the facility is at present working at merely 2% of its capacity as state-run gas utility GAIL's plan to lay a pipeline for evacuating gas has been grounded by farmers' opposition. But still, Petronet was able to notch up gas sale of 150 trillion British thermal units of gas from its Kochi terminal.
Balyan said Petronet has leased out storage at Kochi to UK's BG Group which will import one shipload or cargo of LNG, store it at Kochi and take it out perhaps in January. Also, the company is now sending out LNG via trucks to some customers. With robust cash flows, the firm repaid Rs 1,032 crore rupee loan by raising lower cost unsecured debt via bonds of Rs 1,000 crore, Balyan said.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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