Indian Petronet's 2Q Profit Down

India’s biggest importer Petronet LNG said November 2 its net profit during July-September quarter (2Q 2019) dropped 4.4% year-on-year.

Company’s net profit in 2Q 2019 was rupees 5.63bn ($77mn) compared with rupees 5.89bn in the same period last year. Petronet processed a total of 217 trillion Btu of LNG in the quarter, slightly lower than 220 trillion Btu in the same quarter last year. Dahej terminal, located in west India, operated at around 110% of its name plate capacity and processed a volume of 211 trillion Btu of LNG in 2Q 2019, as against 210 trillion Btu in 2Q 2018. Kochi terminal, located in the southern Indian state of Kerala, handled 6 trillion Btu of LNG, Petronet said.

For the six months to September 30, Petronet’s registered it highest ever net profit of rupees 11.50bn, up 12% year-on-year. It processed highest ever volume of 437 trillion Btu during 1H 2019, witnessing a growth of 6% over the corresponding period of last year.

“The significant increase in profit, is due to higher volumes processed owing to increase in the regasification capacity of the Dahej terminal and better efficiency in operations,” Petronet said. Late-2017, Dahej terminal's capacity increased to 15mn mt/yr from 10mn mt/yr.