LNG

Reliance Industries, the Indian conglomerate and a leading energy company with domestic gas volumes backing the nation’s LNG imports, reported a decline in fiscal first-quarter earnings while strategic oil and gas operations advanced amid likely continued volatility in gas markets.

Gas Authority of India, the grid and natural gas pipelines operator and the second-largest importer of LNG after Petronet, has just brought in a new Managing Director and Chairman at a time when Indian energy strategies are expected to be revised with a more urgent focus on natural gas.

Petronet LNG, the owner of the largest Indian cargo import terminal at Dahej north of Mumbai, reported an 18 percent increase in net profits and a 58 percent surge in annual revenues even as India’s LNG imports showed a year-on-year decline.

Petronet LNG, the owner of the largest Indian cargo import terminal at Dahej, has incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary company in Singapore to increase trading activities especially for spot and short-term LNG cargo supplies.

Petronet LNG, the largest Indian cargo importer, reported a surge in revenues and a decline in net profits as it planned a terminal expansion and the construction of a new facility on the East Coast.

Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL), an Indian state-controlled company, has acquired an additional 50 percent stake in an LNG project firm building an import terminal at the port of Chhara in the West Coast state of Gujarat, giving it full ownership with the purpose of advancing towards completion.

The Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said it had received several complaints of alleged corruption and irregularities against senior executives of Petronet LNG, the owner of two import terminals.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in a written reply to a question in the Indian lower house of Parliament, the Lok Sabha, that among those complained about was Petronet Chief Executive Prabhat Singh.

The Minister said that the complaints against the CEO and other executives had been forwarded to the Chairperson of Audit Committee of Petronet for appropriate action. 

Petronet shares are listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and fell 5.5 percent on March 24 to 179.20 rupees after the allegations were made and had been at 189.70 rupees at the previous close.

The shares have declined in the past six months along with other energy stock and had reached a 52-week high of 302 rupees on the 23rd of September 2019.

Petronet is India’s largest LNG importer and CEO Singh has been at the helm since September 2015. 

His five-year term comes to an end in six months from now and he is eligible for a two-year extension of service until he achieves the age of 65 years. 

“Several complaints have been received in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas against MD & CEO, PLL and other officers of PLL regarding alleged corruption-irregularities,” said the official statement.

Asked if the government has conducted any audit of the accounts of Petronet regarding the irregularities during the last three years, the Minister said that Petronet was board-managed company and not a government company as per the Companies Act.

Petronet currently operates India’s busiest regasification facility at Dahej, north of Mumbai, with 17.5 million tonnes per annum of capacity and six storage tanks. 

The company was formed by the Government of India in 1998 specifically to import LNG and will be expanding its interests in the years ahead into areas such as fuel distribution.

Shareholders in Petronet, which began operations in 2004 are individual investors while stakes of 12. 5 percent are also held by each of the largest Indian energy players, Gas Authority of India, Indian Oil Corp., Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and Bharat Petroleum Corp.

Petronet’s Dahej import terminal is operating at full capacity while its second terminal at Kochi, in the southwest state of Kerala ,operates at just 18 percent of capacity because of a lack of regional gas infrastructure.