The board of Petronet LNG Ltd on Sunday granted final investment decision to set up its third LNG terminal. The terminal having a capacity of five million tonne an annum will be set up at Gangavaram, Andhra Pradesh. The terminal is expected to cost about Rs 5,000 crore and will be completed by end-2016.

Petronet said that various pre-project activities have been completed and it is working towards short-listing of potential contractors for construction of the project. To bring gas early into the market, the company has also started work on a floating storage and regassification unit (FSRU).

Considering the demand for natural gas in the country, Petronet has already initiated the process to further expand the capacity of Dahej terminal to 15 million tonne annually, the company statement said. The greenfield Kochi terminal is expected to be commissioned in the first quarter of fiscal 2013-14, albeit at a lower capacity utilisation which will ramp up in the coming years, it said.

Earnings

During the quarter ended December 31, 2012, Petronet has reported an 8 per cent jump in net profit as it operated at 110 per cent capacity of its Dahej terminal due to higher processing of gas. The terminal with a capacity of 10 million tonne an annum handled 140 trillion British thermal unit of gas during the quarter.

The company’s profit for the quarter stood at Rs 319 crore compared with Rs 295 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. It reported a turnover of Rs 8,423 crore, an increase of over 33 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year.

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