Petronet LNG Ltd., India's largest liquefied natural gas importer, is eyeing a 26 percent stake in Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.'s LNG terminal in Ennore in Tamil Nadu.
“Evaluation is on. We have to see where we can have a stake to increase capacity,” Prabhat Singh, managing director and chief executive officer, said at a press conference in Delhi on Thursday. “It makes sense to spread yourself along the east and the west coast.”
Indian Oil's Rs 5,151-crore liquefied natural gas import terminal with a capacity of five million tonnes per annum is expected to be completed by March 2018.
Petronet is also planning to acquire a stake in Gujarat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.'s 5-million-tonne-terminal at Mundra, Singh told BloombergQuint in an interview.
The board of Petronet LNG cleared a plan to submit a proposal to Bangladesh for setting up a 7.5-million-tonne LNG terminal at Kutubdia Island. The Government of India is in talks with its Bangladesh counterpart and the company is in discussion with PetroBangla. “We expect it to cost more than a billion dollars and would be in a position to submit a proposal before August-end,” Singh told BloombergQuint.
Profit Up 16%
Petronet LNG's net profit rose 16 percent to Rs 438 crore for the first quarter ended June 2017 compared to the year-ago quarter. Total income grew 21 per cent during the quarter at Rs 6,505 core.
It processed highest combined throughput at 192 trillion British thermal units (TBTU) of liquefied natural gas during the quarter, according to its statement. The Dahej terminal processed 184 trillion British thermal units of LNG and operated at around 97 percent of capacity.
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