Petronet draws Rs 40,000 cr investment

Petronet LNG Ltd, the operator of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, will invest Rs 40,000 crore in expanding import capacity and petrochemicals with a target to treble net profit by 2028, its CEO A K Singh said. Petronet is making a foray into the petrochemical business by investing Rs 12,685 crore in a propane dehydrogenation plant that will convert imported feedstock into propylene, as well as setting up an LNG import facility at Gopalpur in Odisha at a cost of Rs 2,300 crore, he told reporters on the sidelines of India Energy Week here. The firm, which this week extended a deal to import 7.5 million tonnes a year of LNG from Qatar by 20 years, is also looking at investing in overseas projects such as a floating LNG terminal at Colombo in Sri Lanka. “We have charted a 1-5-10-40 strategy — increasing turnover to Rs 1 lakh crore in 5 years with a net profit of Rs 10,000 crore from investing Rs 40,000 crore in expansions,” he said. The strategy started two years back and is for the period up to 2027-28. Petronet currently has a turnover of Rs 55,000-60,000 crore and an annual net profit of Rs 3,200 crore. It operates a 17.5 million tonnes-a-year flagship import terminal at Dahej in Gujarat and another 5 million tonnes facility at Kochi, Kerala. Singh said the company is hoping to start shipping LNG in containers to Sri Lanka in the next 18 months and is looking to set up an import terminal at Colombo port in five years. LNG is natural gas cooled to -162 degrees Celsius to turn it into a liquid for ease of transportation via ships. India’s domestic natural gas production barely meets half the demand of the power, fertilizer and CNG sectors and the rest is imported in the form of LNG. Gangavaram would have been the first terminal on the east coast. Soon after that, Adani Group began work to set up a 5 million tonne-a-year import terminal at Dhamra port in Odisha. Petronet now se