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New Delhi, Oct. 20 Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) has reported a 10.51 per cent dip in its net profit for the second quarter (ended September 30) of the current fiscal. PLL net dipped to Rs 103.36 crore in the second quarter, from Rs 115.51 crore in the same period last fiscal. This was propelled by the decline in sales reported by the company for the quarter.

The net sales of the company declined to Rs 1,654.92 crore (Rs 1,670.50 crore) for the quarter under review. Speaking to Business Line, Mr A. Sengupta, Director (Financial & Commercial), PLL, said, “During the quarter, the sales quantity was lower as one of the high pressure pumps was decommissioned for major repair and maintenance work. The same has been re-commissioned on October 5, and now the terminal is operating in full capacity.”

PLL had to cut gas supplies from its LNG terminal at Dahej, Western Gujarat marginally by 3 million cubic metre a day. The Dahej terminal normally supplies 24 million cubic metre a day through two pipelines, mainly to industrial customers but the supplies had to be trimmed as one of five high pressure pumps used for compressing gas developed problems.

For the first six months of the current fiscal (ending September 30), PLL has registered dip in net profit by 6.4 per cent to Rs 209.01 crore (Rs 223.53 crore).

On plans to meet the January 2009 target of completing expansion of Dahej import terminal, he said, “The project is going on as per our announced target.” PLL plans to expand its terminal capacity to 10 million tonne per annum (mtpa) by January-end. Dahej terminal in Gujarat currently has a capacity to import 6.5 mtpa of liquefied natural has (LNG). PLL will be taking a seven-eight day shutdown in beginning of January to hook up new facilities.

When asked about long-term contracts that the company was negotiating, he said, “It’s status quo right now. After the financial meltdown the industry globally has adopted a cautious approach.” PLL is looking at sourcing LNG from Exxon Mobil’s interest in Australia’s Gorgon project. The company has been in talks to secure Exxon’s entire stake of 3.75 mtpa from the project.

Another proposal which the company is looking at is that of securing an additional 3.5 mtpa of LNG from a source other than Gorgon and the existing contracts for Petronet. Currently, the company gets 5 mtpa from RasGas of Qatar under a long-term LNG deal, which will increase to 7.5 mtpa from 2009. This price of fuel from Qatar will see a hike from January. RasGas currently charges a fixed pre-shipping cost (or fob price). The five-year fixed price period will end in January and the free-on-board price will move up.

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