Petronet LNG has reported a 77 per cent increase in its fourth quarter fiscal 2014-15 net profit at ₹300.75 crore due to a ₹170 crore tax credit. In the same quarter last year, the company had a net profit of ₹ 169.3 crore.

Due to lower offtake of volumes under long-term agreements, the company’s net sales for the quarter were down 32 per cent at ₹7,077 crore, as compared to ₹10,408 crore in the same quarter last year.

The company also announced a dividend of ₹ 2 per share.

“In the fourth quarter the utilisation of Dahej terminal was around 75 per cent. This was due to the lower offtake from the long-term contracts. Fertiliser plants in particular had bought less,” said A K Balyan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Petronet LNG.

He added that currently the landed price of long-term contracted LNG is $13 per million British thermal units (mBtu) while spot prices are around $7 to $8 a mBtu.

“Things have improved in April. We also expect the activity from fertiliser plants to increase in this quarter,” said Balyan.

During the quarter, capacity utilisation at Kochi rose to around 7 per cent as Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd increased its offtake.

For the full fiscal 2014-15, Petronet reported a 24 per cent improvement over the previous fiscal in its net profit at ₹ 883 crore. Its turnover improved 5 per cent in 2014-15 to ₹ 39,501 crore. Dahej terminal’s capacity utilisation over the entire year was 102 per cent.

Balyan said the company is in the process to firm up customer contracts for the proposed Gangavaram terminal. “By time of the next board meeting we hope to complete it all and the board for the final approval,” he added.

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