Petronet LNG has reported a ₹440-crore profit for the fourth quarter of financial year 2018-2019. This is 15.87 per cent lower than the ₹523 crore bottom-line reported by the company in the same quarter of the last financial year.

The company’s board of directors has recommended a 45 per cent dividend at ₹4.5 for each equity share of ₹10 each.

The profits during the quarter under review have been hit by an inventory loss of ₹119 crore. “The spot price of natural gas has fallen from $8.5 per million British thermal units (mBtu) at the beginning of the quarter to $4.3 per mBtu. This has brought down the profit by Rs 119 cr in the fourth quarter of financial year 2018-2019, Prabhat Singh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Petonet LNG, told Business Line. This time, there were substantial inventory volumes and price fluctuations, leading to the hit.  There was no impact of inventory loss or gain in the corresponding quarter of the financial year 2017-2018,” he said.

There were also lower volumes during the quarter under review.

“During the quarter ended March 31, the Dahej terminal operated at around 104 per cent of its name plate capacity and processed 199 trillion British thermal units (tBtu) of gas,” a company statement said.

In the comparable quarter of financial year 2017-2018, the Dahej terminal had processed 207 tBtu of gas.

The overall LNG volume processed during the quarter under review by the company stood at 205 tBtu while that processed during the corresponding previous quarter stood at 213 tBtu.

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