Petronet LNG’s quarterly turnover increases 23%
1 May 2014 11:43 PM GMT
The company posted a profit of Rs 169.3 crore for January-March compared with Rs 245.14 crore for the quarter ended 31 March, 2013, Petronet Chief Executive Officer A K Balyan told reporters here.
While the company's 10 million tonne-a-year import terminal at Dahej in Gujarat operated at 96 per cent of capacity, the 5 million tonne Kochi terminal operated at 1 per cent of capacity in the absence of pipelines to take gas to customers in Mangalore and Bangalore.
‘Results have accounted for interest (on loans taken to build the Kochi terminal) and depreciation,’ he said.
Since the terminal was commissioned in September 2013, the interest payout has been Rs 109 crore and Rs 121 crore is on account of depreciation. ‘On a full-year basis, interest and depreciation impact will be Rs 400 crore,’ Petronet Director (Finance) R K Garg said.
With average utilisation of the Kochi terminal at an abysmally low 3.5 per cent, Petronet is looking to lease out half of the storage capacity at the plant to liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers and traders who want to use the facility as an intermediate storage point.
‘We have received good response for hiring the storage space. There are several internationally known companies like Gazprom of Russia which have envisaged interest,’ Balyan said.
Turnover increased to Rs 10,458.55 crore in Q4 from Rs 8,487.86 crore for the quarter ended 31 March, 2013. The company processed nine cargoes or shiploads of LNG less in the quarter due to low demand, he said, adding that things are improving with a pick up in demand.
For the full financial year, Petronet posted a net profit of Rs 711.92 crore as compared to Rs 1,149.28 crore a year earlier.
Will raise Dahej terminal capacity by 75%: Balyan
New Delhi: Petronet LNG Ltd, India's biggest gas importer, plans to hike its Dahej import terminal capacity to 17.5 million tonnes from current 10 million tonnes, its chief executive A K Balyan said on Wednesday.
‘We have awarded all contracts for expansion of the capacity from 10 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes. By November 2016, Dahej terminal would be operating at 15 million tonnes capacity,’ he said.
Further, the company is looking a de-bottlenecking and other improvements in project design to further raise the capacity to 17.5 million tons.
Petronet, he said, has this month completed commissioning of a second jetty which will allow larger ships carrying natural gas in its liquid form (liquefied natural gas or LNG) to dock at the port in Gujarat.
‘We can now import bigger Q-Flex ships, with 216,000 cubic meters capacity, all around the year and Q-Max vessels, with 266,000 cubic meters carrying capacity, during fair weather (when sea is not rough),’ he said.
The second jetty would give Petronet more flexibility of imports. Petronet, which had in September last year commissioned a 5 million tonnes a year import facility at Kochi in Kerala, is also building a similar capacity terminal at Gangavaram in Andhra Pradesh.
‘We have all statutory approvals in place. All that we now need is a no-objection certificate from the Andhra Pradesh government. The NOC got delayed because of the review of contractual arrangements between the state government and the Gangavaran port. We are now given to understand that the NOC will come anytime now,’ Balyan said.
While the company's 10 million tonne-a-year import terminal at Dahej in Gujarat operated at 96 per cent of capacity, the 5 million tonne Kochi terminal operated at 1 per cent of capacity in the absence of pipelines to take gas to customers in Mangalore and Bangalore.
‘Results have accounted for interest (on loans taken to build the Kochi terminal) and depreciation,’ he said.
Since the terminal was commissioned in September 2013, the interest payout has been Rs 109 crore and Rs 121 crore is on account of depreciation. ‘On a full-year basis, interest and depreciation impact will be Rs 400 crore,’ Petronet Director (Finance) R K Garg said.
With average utilisation of the Kochi terminal at an abysmally low 3.5 per cent, Petronet is looking to lease out half of the storage capacity at the plant to liquefied natural gas (LNG) suppliers and traders who want to use the facility as an intermediate storage point.
‘We have received good response for hiring the storage space. There are several internationally known companies like Gazprom of Russia which have envisaged interest,’ Balyan said.
Turnover increased to Rs 10,458.55 crore in Q4 from Rs 8,487.86 crore for the quarter ended 31 March, 2013. The company processed nine cargoes or shiploads of LNG less in the quarter due to low demand, he said, adding that things are improving with a pick up in demand.
For the full financial year, Petronet posted a net profit of Rs 711.92 crore as compared to Rs 1,149.28 crore a year earlier.
Will raise Dahej terminal capacity by 75%: Balyan
New Delhi: Petronet LNG Ltd, India's biggest gas importer, plans to hike its Dahej import terminal capacity to 17.5 million tonnes from current 10 million tonnes, its chief executive A K Balyan said on Wednesday.
‘We have awarded all contracts for expansion of the capacity from 10 million tonnes to 15 million tonnes. By November 2016, Dahej terminal would be operating at 15 million tonnes capacity,’ he said.
Further, the company is looking a de-bottlenecking and other improvements in project design to further raise the capacity to 17.5 million tons.
Petronet, he said, has this month completed commissioning of a second jetty which will allow larger ships carrying natural gas in its liquid form (liquefied natural gas or LNG) to dock at the port in Gujarat.
‘We can now import bigger Q-Flex ships, with 216,000 cubic meters capacity, all around the year and Q-Max vessels, with 266,000 cubic meters carrying capacity, during fair weather (when sea is not rough),’ he said.
The second jetty would give Petronet more flexibility of imports. Petronet, which had in September last year commissioned a 5 million tonnes a year import facility at Kochi in Kerala, is also building a similar capacity terminal at Gangavaram in Andhra Pradesh.
‘We have all statutory approvals in place. All that we now need is a no-objection certificate from the Andhra Pradesh government. The NOC got delayed because of the review of contractual arrangements between the state government and the Gangavaran port. We are now given to understand that the NOC will come anytime now,’ Balyan said.
Next Story
