Riding on the back of higher gas trading volumes, GAIL (India) on Monday reported 19 per cent rise in net profit at Rs. 1,094 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2011, against Rs.924 crore in the year-ago period.
Addressing a press conference here, GAIL Chairman and Managing Director B. C. Tripathi said the surge was despite company's fuel subsidy pay-out rising from Rs.347 crore in the second quarter to Rs.567 crore.
The major reason for increase in net profit was higher volumes of natural gas traded in the quarter. GAIL sold 84 million standard cubic metres a day in the quarter compared to 79 mscmd a year ago. The turnover was up 20 per cent at Rs.9,699 crore. Sales from the petrochemical business were up 30 per cent at Rs.938 crore, while revenue from natural gas trading soared by 20 per cent to Rs.7,575 crore. Revenue from natural gas transmission business was almost static at Rs.980 crore.
Mr. Tripathi said GAIL would raise $300 million through external commercial borrowings (ECBs) to fund its Rs.7,200 crore capital expenditure for the current fiscal. “We imported 8 cargoes of LNG from the spot market in the first half of the current fiscal and a similar quantity is planned to be imported in the second half. We are importing one-and-a-half cargo every month,'' he added.
He said the company planned to source a shipload of liquefied natural gas to commission the long-delayed LNG import facility adjacent to the beleaguered Dabhol power plant.
