Petronet LNG Q1 results: PAT up 40% at Rs 1,100 cr on higher gas volumes

Stable LNG prices and higher capacity utilization at Petronet's Dahej LNG terminal

India’s largest liquified natural gas (LNG) importer, Petronet LNG, registered a 39.7 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated profit at Rs 1,100 crore for the first quarter (April-June) of FY25, up from Rs 787.73 crore in Q1FY24. On a sequential basis, profit was 49.9 per cent higher than the Rs 734.07 crore registered in the preceding quarter.

The latest growth was due to efficiency in operations, higher capacity utilisation of Petronet's LNG terminal at Gujarat’s Dahej, and stable LNG prices.

The state-run company's revenue from operations for the quarter came in at Rs 13,415.1 crore, 15 per cent lower than the Rs 11,656 crore registered in Q1FY24, the company said in its filing to exchanges.

The company reported profit before tax of Rs 1,479 crore in the latest quarter, higher than the Rs 1,060 crore registered a year back. Both the profit before tax and net profit are the highest ever for the first quarter of any year, the company said.

Dahej remains the largest single-location LNG storage and regasification terminal in the country. The terminal processed 248 trillion British thermal units (tBtu) of LNG in Q1, as against 217 tBtu in the corresponding period of FY24. The terminal witnessed a capacity utilisation of 109 per cent in the current quarter, as against 97 per cent in the preceding quarter and 96 per cent in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The overall LNG volume processed by the company in FY24 was 685 tBtu.

While the evacuation of gas has remained a major problem for the company's terminal at Kochi, utilisation levels are set to rise. Two consumers, including Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited, have started drawing gas. Utilisation levels are expected to rise as a result of this, and the terminal getting connected to the main Mangalore pipeline.

The company's upcoming terminal at Gopalpur port in Ganjam District, Odisha, will be connected to a major pipeline and connected to the national gas grid before it is completed. Currently under construction with a capital expenditure of Rs 2,300 crore, Gopalpur would be the first eastern coast terminal of the company.