India’s Petronet LNG reported a rise in net profit as demand picked up again in the country following Covid lockdown.
Net profit after tax increased 30 percent to 8.8 billion rupees ($120 million) in the third quarter of fiscal 2020-21, compared to 6.7 billion rupees last year.
Revenues dropped to 74.2 billion rupees ($663 million) in the quarter compared to 89.9 billion rupees in the corresponding quarter.
Petronet said its terminals regasified 235 trillion British thermal units in the period, rising compared to 233 TBTU in the same quarter last year but down from 254 TBTU in the previous quarter.
The company’s 17.5 mtpa Dahej terminal regasified 222 TBTUs during the quarter, the same as last year and down compared to 243 TBTU in the previous quarter.
During the April-December period, Dahej terminal processed 645 TBTU of LNG as against 679 TBTU in the year before, Petronet said.
Net profit after tax in the nine-month period declined slightly to 23 billion rupees due to the effects related to the lockdown, the nation’s largest LNG importer said.
India imposed a nationwide lockdown from the last week of March to stop the spread of the coronavirus and started easing the restrictions during May and June.
Demand started gradually to rise after June helping Petronet to recover from the losses during lockdown.