Petronet LNG Q3FY24 results: Net profit rises 1.2% to Rs 1,191 crore

Higher operational efficiency and capacity utilization at Petronet's Dahej LNG terminal drives profit

India’s largest Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) importer, Petronet LNG, registered a marginal 1.2 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated profit at Rs 1,190.3 crore for the third quarter (October-December) of FY24, up from Rs 1,181 crore in Q3 FY23. On a sequential basis, profit was 46 per cent higher than the Rs 814.9 crore registered in the preceding quarter.

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

The state-run company's revenue from operations for the quarter came in at Rs 14,747.2 crore, 6.5 per cent lower than the Rs 15,775 crore registered in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year, the company said in its filing to exchanges.

The company reported a Profit Before Tax of Rs 1,597 crore in Q3 FY24, higher than the Rs 1,586 crore registered in Q3 FY23. Both the Profit Before Tax and Net Profit are the highest ever.

Dahej remains the largest single location LNG storage and regasification terminal in the country. The terminal processed 647 trillion British thermal units (tBtu) of LNG in the first nine months of FY24, as against 532 tBtu in the corresponding period of FY23.

The overall LNG volume processed by the Company in FY24 was 685 TBTU, compared to 567 TBTU in the first nine months of FY23.

In a post-result call on Tuesday, Petronet LNG Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Akshay Kumar Singh said evacuation of gas remains a major problem for its terminal at Kochi. Utilisation stood at 22 per cent, Singh said. In the last quarter, 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, he stressed.

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