NEW DELHI: Natural gas major Petronet LNG posted a 30 per cent spike in its net profit for the quarter ended December 2020, clocking in earnings of Rs 878.47 crore as opposed to Rs 675.18 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
“The strong financial results for the quarter was achieved due to resurgence of demand to pre-COVID-19 level, operational efficiency and effective commercial planning,” Petronet’s new Managing Director and CEO A K Singh said.
The imposition of the lockdown last year had resulted in a large demand drop in Petronet’s primary business—importing liquid natural gas, regasifying it, and selling it to users such as fertiliser units and power plants who use the fuel to manufacture urea and generate electricity. However, the rising general demand for energy has helped the company in the December quarter.
Petronet’s main liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Dahej in Gujarat processed 222 trillion British thermal units of gas in the third quarter of the current fiscal, the same as the volume handled a year back. “The Dahej terminal operated at 97.3 per cent of its nameplate capacity in the quarter while the one at Kochi operated at 19.9 per cent capacity,” noted Singh., adding that the commissioning of the Kochi-Mangalore pipeline would increase Kochi’s capacity utilisation to 30 per cent.