Petronet LNG Limited (NSE:PETRONET)
India flag India · Delayed Price · Currency is INR
279.00
-1.12 (-0.40%)
Apr 30, 2026, 3:30 PM IST
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Q2 25/26

Nov 10, 2025

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Petronet LNG Q2 FY26 Earnings Conference Call, hosted by IIFL Capital Services Limited. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star then zero on a touch-tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Balaji Subramanian from IIFL Capital Services Limited. Thank you, and over to you, sir.

Balaji Subramanian
Senior Vice President of Institutional Equities, IIFL Capital Services Limited

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and thank you for joining us on the post-2Q and 1H FY26 Results Conference Call for Petronet LNG Limited. It's my pleasure to introduce the senior management team of Petronet LNG, who are here with us today to discuss the results. We have Mr. Saurav Mitra, Director of Finance and CFO; Mr. Rakesh Chawla, Executive Director, F&A; Mr. Gyanendra Kumar Sharma, GGM and President, Marketing; Mr. Vivek Mittal, GGM and President, Marketing; Mr. Debabrata Satpathy, General Manager, F&A; and Mr. Vikash Maheshwari, Deputy General Manager, F&A. We'll begin the call with opening remarks by the management team, and thereafter we'll open the call for a Q&A session. I would like to now hand over the call to the management to take the proceedings forward. Thank you, and over to you.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Petronet LNG's Q2 FY26 Conference Call. I am Saurav Mitra, Director of Finance and CFO, and I'll be walking you through our financial performance and key highlights for the quarter. Net profit stands at INR 805.75 crore, down 5% -on- due to lower LNG volumes. Revenue from operations stood at INR 11,009 crore, down 15% year-on-year. EBITDA is INR 1,117 crore with a margin of around 10%. We have also declared a 7% per share interim dividend, reflecting our commitment to shareholder returns. As far as capacity utilization is concerned, we have witnessed the highest-ever capacity utilization of Kochi terminal in the current quarter, which stands at 27%. The Dahej terminal processed 211 TBTU. The expansion activities which are going on at the Dahej terminal will be adding 5 MMTPA capacity by March 2026.

With these points, I would now like to invite the questions.

Operator

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Prabal Singh from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

Prabal Singh
Energy Analyst, ICICI Securities

Thank you for the opportunity. Good morning, sir. Just a couple of questions. Firstly, you mentioned Kochi's utilization actually going up in this quarter. Can you just give us some in terms of?

Operator

Hello, Prabal. Hello.

Prabal Singh
Energy Analyst, ICICI Securities

Yeah, yeah.

Operator

Sorry to interrupt you. Actually, your voice is not audible. It is coming very low.

Prabal Singh
Energy Analyst, ICICI Securities

Is this better?

Operator

Yes, it is better now. Please go ahead.

Prabal Singh
Energy Analyst, ICICI Securities

Yeah, my apologies for that. Sir, I was asking that you mentioned about Kochi's utilization actually improving quite sharply in this quarter. Can you just expand on the reasons for that? That was my first question.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Okay. I would ask Vivek to please clarify this.

Vivek Mittal
GGM and President of Marketing, Petronet LNG Limited

Primarily, Kochi's refineries, which is the BPCL's refinery, they have started now bringing in cargoes also over there. They have brought cargo. Actually, the cargo came at the end of June, and it was taken in this quarter. Primarily, that is the reason. In fact, we are expecting a similar trend to continue at Kochi, that BPCL will bring its own cargoes under degassification at Kochi also.

Prabal Singh
Energy Analyst, ICICI Securities

Even just as a follow-up to that, the final leg of the remaining pipeline for Kochi-Bangalore leg, any sense we can get on where that is and what are the timelines for commissioning of that?

Vivek Mittal
GGM and President of Marketing, Petronet LNG Limited

We are hoping that within this financial year, that the pipeline should get connected with the National Gas Unit.

Prabal Singh
Energy Analyst, ICICI Securities

For FY27, sir, sustainably speaking, what kind of utilization should we be building in for Kochi, given the range that you're looking at?

Vivek Mittal
GGM and President of Marketing, Petronet LNG Limited

At this point of time, giving a number would be difficult, but we definitely expect improved utilization once the pipeline gets connected. Gradually, once the LNG pipes are softened, we expect utilization of Kochi terminal in the vicinity in the existing connectivity region also to increase further.

Prabal Singh
Energy Analyst, ICICI Securities

Thank you. The second question was with respect to the Dahej. What we've seen really is in this quarter, the term contracts seem to have reduced while third-party degas cargoes have actually gone up. Is this purely a function of the way that the prices have been behaving versus term and maybe short-term? Secondly, where are we in terms of contract visibility for the expanded capacity since we are now less than four months away from the official commissioning of the additional 5 million ton capacity? Those are the two parts that I had.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Okay. You already have the answer to your first part of the question. That pricing trends of long-term vis-à-vis the spot is basically the guiding factor. Secondly, coming to your second part of the question, yes, we are closely working with many companies for booking our commitments in the expanded infrastructure.

Prabal Singh
Energy Analyst, ICICI Securities

Sir, one last question, if I may. Any update you want to share on the petrochemical expansion project?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yes. Work is going on full steam. As notified earlier, we have also awarded all the major long-lead item packages. Civil job has also started on site. That is the major development which I can share with you right now. The work is going on in full steam.

Prabal Singh
Energy Analyst, ICICI Securities

All right, sir. That's all from my side. I'll come back for more questions. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Puneet from HSBC. Please go ahead.

Puneet Gulati
Director of Equity Research, HSBC

Yeah, thank you so much. My first question is with respect to the Gopalpur terminal, if you can also talk about what is the progress there in terms of environmental approvals and any start, etc.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Okay. We have already acquired the land. As you are all aware of the fact that initially it was an FSRU, now we have converted into a land-based terminal. Due to this change, the EC has to be resubmitted. We have resubmitted the EC on all the details for EC and are expecting the clearance soon. Wanted.

Puneet Gulati
Director of Equity Research, HSBC

Timeline?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

We have actually given whatever additional information was sought from us. It is now under process with the consent authority. It can be as soon as tomorrow or maybe whatever time the authority takes.

Puneet Gulati
Director of Equity Research, HSBC

Understood. That's helpful. Secondly, if you can also comment on what you are seeing in terms of the new LNG deals, what kind of pricing, some color there, given the upcoming supply glut globally.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Okay. Again, Vivek, you can say.

Vivek Mittal
GGM and President of Marketing, Petronet LNG Limited

I think you would have also noticed that many Indian companies have gone out in the market and tied up volumes for long-term business. Finally, most of them have capacity at the Dahej terminal, including Torrent, IOC, GAIL, Gujarat Gas, GSPC. Which in a way is good for Petronet because then it gives sustainability to our existing business because, of course, based on spot prices, there have been volatilities. Some of these capacity holders have not been able to bring the cargoes which they're supposed to. That's point number one.

Secondly, going forward, as you rightly mentioned, there is going to be—I would not say a glut, but there is going to be a decent supply of LNG in times to come, specifically end of 2027, early 2028, which means that the spot prices could reduce and they should become more affordable to Indian consumers, which in a way helps us in utilization of our terminals. We always say that we are future-ready in the sense we have capacity available. Once the volumes are available internationally at sustainable prices and affordable prices for Indian markets, the utilization of our terminal will see a substantial increase.

Puneet Gulati
Director of Equity Research, HSBC

Are you also trying to tie up the long-term volumes on your own balance sheet, or that's not the attempt at this point of time?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

That's not the right long-term thing.

Puneet Gulati
Director of Equity Research, HSBC

That's not the right thing. Okay. Great. That's helpful. Thank you so much and all the best.

Operator

Thank you. Next question is from the line of Amit Murarka from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.

Amit Murarka
Executive Director, Axis Capital Ltd

Good morning. Now that Petronet Capex is moving full steam, as you mentioned, could you provide guidance on Capex for FY 2026 and FY 2027?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Okay. FY2026, I think we have already announced in our earlier conference calls that the total CapEx will be around INR 5,000 crore. Obviously, PetCon consists of the major share of that INR 5,000 crore CapEx. Going forward, once the project picks up its momentum, definitely FY2027 will be witnessing the major chunk of the CapEx towards PetCon. Right now, I do not think it will be right on my side to come up with the numbers of FY2027. Surely, I think we will be able to share more details in the upcoming conference calls.

Amit Murarka
Executive Director, Axis Capital Ltd

Sure, sure. Understood. Also on Kochi, you mentioned that 27% was the highest ever utilization. Once the Bangalore-Kochi pipeline is in place and the connectivity is there, how fast can the volume scale-up happen? Is it only the bottleneck is only the pipeline, or even the contracts with the customers could take a bit long to come through?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

No, I think this has already been clarified by Mr. Vivek Mittal. We are eagerly waiting for the pipeline to get commissioned. The moment it gets commissioned, there will be an uptick in the capacity utilization.

Amit Murarka
Executive Director, Axis Capital Ltd

Contracts, you mean to say, are it already in place or how is it?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Major contracts are already in place. We also have our contract with ExxonMobil, which we are going to start implementing from next financial year.

Amit Murarka
Executive Director, Axis Capital Ltd

Okay, sure. Could you provide the breakup between inventory gain loss, trading gain loss, and service cargo for the quarter?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Okay. So if you can, please. There was no trading gain like last quarter. Inventory gain was INR 41 crore.

Amit Murarka
Executive Director, Axis Capital Ltd

Thank you. That's all.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Maulik Patel from Equarius. Please go ahead.

Maulik Patel
Director of Research, Equirus Securities Pvt Ltd

Yeah, thanks for the opportunity. Just one question on the Dahej. You mentioned that the pricing difference led to this kind of lower term volume and higher service gains. Pricing was pretty much stable, right? I think term volume prices are still much cheaper than the spot prices. Is that something related to scheduling or the cargoes obviously decided at the beginning of the year, which led to this lower?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Got your point. Vivek, if you can please.

Vivek Mittal
GGM and President of Marketing, Petronet LNG Limited

You are right that it was primarily because of scheduling. Sometimes what happens is that off-taker takes higher volume in the previous quarter, which needs to be adjusted in the subsequent quarters. It has more to do with more of scheduling rather than to do with pricing, I would agree.

Maulik Patel
Director of Research, Equirus Securities Pvt Ltd

Got it. You mentioned, Vivek, that there's some incremental volume being tied by IOC, GAIL, GSPC, and others. I understand that approximately 8 million ton volume will come largely from the next year. Has the customers mentioned anything that they want to bring that additional of some of the volume to Dahej, or they will use the existing capacity that they have booked with you as a part of that?

Vivek Mittal
GGM and President of Marketing, Petronet LNG Limited

As our DFs have mentioned, we are already in discussion with some of the existing capacity holders as well as new capacity holders so that we ensure that these volumes come at our terminal. We are already in advanced discussion.

Maulik Patel
Director of Research, Equirus Securities Pvt Ltd

Got it. Got it. Thanks. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sabri Hazarika from Emkay Global Financial Services. Please go ahead.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Yeah, good morning. I have a few questions. Firstly, these gas service volumes, I think 8.25 million ton is what has been booked. Can you give us a rough indication as to how much of that would be spot and how much of that would be term with respect to the off-takers? I know it's not your prerogative, but just to get some color on that to understand the sensitivity.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

I think off-takers is a different situation. It's very difficult to give how much is on term basis. But as we mentioned, many of these off-takers have tied up volumes on long-term basis starting from 2026 onwards. So we expect it to be more ratable and sustainable rather than on an intermittent basis. That's all I can say.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

This quarter, also the difference was there between spot and term, but still we were able to do 116 TBTU. That is in line with that 8.5 million ton. Despite the odds, we have been able to maintain that run rate. Is that right for this quarter?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yes, it's 116 TBTU. Yes, you're right.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Okay. Secondly, this term LNG, when you report for the H, so that includes the ExxonMobil part also which comes to the H, right, instead of Kochi?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yes.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Okay. And this is all priced in at Kochi tariff only, around INR 95?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yes, you are right.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Right. Once we have this Kochi terminal coming at full capacity, I mean, if the pipeline is ready, then entire Gorgon volumes will go to Kochi only, or the same arrangement is likely to continue?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

That will depend on off-takers, how they want us to schedule it.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Right. Secondly, this Gorgon second part, so that is exactly on the same terms as the first part, right? 14% slope and it's a DS contract, right? So it's just.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

We cannot divulge the commercials.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Right. But it is like this 1.42 only, right? I mean, it would be similar to that only, right? Because it was supposed to be an extension.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

We will refrain from commenting on this.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Okay, fair. Yesterday, I think there was an article where your MD mentioned that from next year, March, April onwards, it will start with a 500,000 ton per annum run rate and scale up to 1.2. We can build that, right?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yes, yes. You already have the. Exactly.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Okay, sir. And last question, once this Kochi utilization goes up, there will be again a tariff reset, right, to maintain the return profile?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Again, it's a commercial call. We won't be able to share it in this forum. If the tariff resetting happens, then we will let you know. At this point of time, we cannot comment on it. It's too premature, actually.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Right, sir. Thank you so much and all the best.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ardhar Shenduja, as an individual investor. Please go ahead.

Hi. Can you hear me?

Yes, you're audible. Please go ahead.

Thank you. My question was pertaining to delay in the five-month expansion. I'm looking at your past conference call transcripts. In October last year, you were told it would be completed by March. Instead, you were told it would take another four-five months. Now you're mentioning March 2026. If you could comment on this, what's going on, why the delay?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Okay, okay. I got your point. Yes, we do agree that the initial target was March, and then it was shifted to October. Now we are telling March 2026, end of March, FY26. When I'm talking about March FY26, it's basically the commissioning of the expanded capacity. Earlier, while we were mentioning, while we had mentioned March as well as October, that was the mechanical completion. Yes, still, I would accept that yes, there has been some delay in this project. There are definite reasons for this delay. We have already discussed in our earlier conference calls on the reasons for delay. Maybe for the benefit of this gathering, I would like to repeat the reasons. Reason number one, monsoon. Reason number two is Operation Sindoor.

Both these factors have played a major role in shifting of the commissioning dates as well as the mechanical completion dates. These are the two major factors. We are trying to cope up with the setbacks with the right earnest and should be able to commission this expanded capacity by March 2026.

Would I be correct in assuming that the mechanical aspect has been completed and you're just awaiting commissioning?

Sorry? You are not audible.

Would I be right in assuming that the construction is completed and you're just awaiting the commissioning?

No, again, you are not audible.

Operator

Sorry to interrupt.

Are you able to hear me fine now?

Ardhar, your voice is coming muffled, actually.

One second. One more now. Is it fine?

Yes, it is fine now. Please go ahead.

Yeah, so I wanted to ask, would I be correct in assuming that mechanical construction is completed and we are just awaiting commissioning?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

No, no. We are still, no, we have not yet completed that. We have not arrived at that stage. Definitely, I can say we are very close to completing the project mechanically.

Okay. Great. That's great. Thank you. What's the total expenditure that's been out there for this?

On?

On the 5 MMTPA expansion, what's the total expenditure?

Okay, till date?

Yeah.

Till date, we have spent around INR 450 crore.

Okay. All right. Awesome. Thank you so much for answering my questions.

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Shubham Shukla from Voyager Capital. Please go ahead.

Shubham Shukla
Equity Research Analyst, Voyager Capital

Hi, good morning. Am I audible?

Operator

Yes, you're audible. Please go ahead.

Shubham Shukla
Equity Research Analyst, Voyager Capital

Okay. Yeah. Hi. I wanted to get some light on the possible PNGRB regasification tariff, which PNGRB is constantly pushing. Can you shed some light on it?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Okay. Sharmaji, if you can clarify.

Gyanendra Kumar Sharma
GGM and President-Head of Marketing

Shubham, actually, these notifications you may be aware of are under chillings. Also, this is not questioning or any degassification tariff as you were asking about. This is all about the registration. Okay? I do not think the PLL is under any constraint or anything about the commercials.

Shubham Shukla
Equity Research Analyst, Voyager Capital

Okay. These are not on regasification. If they are implemented in any way, do we have any quantum that the amount which can impact on annual basis to us?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

No, not at all. Not at all.

Shubham Shukla
Equity Research Analyst, Voyager Capital

Okay. The second question is a very broader question. As a country, the gas consumption growth we are seeing in the last two, three years makes me wonder how are we going to achieve the 15% target as a share consumption share for the country in the next four years from 7% now?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Basically, 15% is, of course, common to India's ambition. We are all striving to achieve that. As we mentioned previously, in the next two, three years, we are expecting a glut of LNG supplies or a decent amount of LNG supply to come on stream, which should definitely support increasing share of natural gas in India's energy basket. If not 15%, we are very hopeful that it will increase from current 7% level to 10-11% level.

Shubham Shukla
Equity Research Analyst, Voyager Capital

Okay. What kind of volume as a country will we be, if any numbers you can put, say, at 11% consumption share, what kind of volumes are we possibly might be consuming, say, 300 MTPA or something?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Not MMTPA, 300 MMSCMD, you may be.

Shubham Shukla
Equity Research Analyst, Voyager Capital

MMSCMD, I'm sorry. Yes.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

That's a free answer.

Shubham Shukla
Equity Research Analyst, Voyager Capital

All right. Thanks. All right. That's it. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Hardik Solanki from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.

Hardik Solanki
Associate Vice President, ICICI Securities

Thanks for the opportunity, sir. Can you please share the regasification revenue?

Operator

Sorry to interrupt, Hardik. Your voice is coming low. Could you please speak a little louder?

Hardik Solanki
Associate Vice President, ICICI Securities

Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Can you please share the degasification revenue for the quarter? Also, can you just clarify on what is the current Dahej and Kochi tariff rate?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

We could hear your second question correctly and clearly. The rates are again something which generally I would not like to discuss in this forum. I would also request you to please repeat your first part of the question.

Hardik Solanki
Associate Vice President, ICICI Securities

Regassification revenue for the quarter.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Re-gas revenue. Okay. Okay. So if you can, please. It is INR 754 crore.

Shubham Shukla
Equity Research Analyst, Voyager Capital

Thank you, sir.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Nitin Tiwari from Philip Capital India Limited. Please go ahead.

Nitin Tiwari
Research Analyst, PhillipCapital India

Hi, sir. Thanks for the opportunity. Just a few bookkeeping questions from my end. What was the Gorgon volume on the Dahej terminal in this quarter?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

It's YTD 70 TBTU.

Nitin Tiwari
Research Analyst, PhillipCapital India

Okay. Sir, any in-days related impact that you would want to disclose for the quarter?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yeah. In-days, the gross margin level positive is INR 171 crore. There is a national forest loss of INR 84 crore. At operational expenses level, positive INR 8 crore. The net impact of that is positive INR 95 crore. Depreciation INR 82 crore, finance was INR 58 crore. The net negative at the PBT level is INR 45 crore.

Nitin Tiwari
Research Analyst, PhillipCapital India

Net PBT negative is 45, sir, you said?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yes.

Nitin Tiwari
Research Analyst, PhillipCapital India

Got it, sir. That's all from my end. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. A reminder to all participants, anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touchstone telephone. The next question is from the line of Dhaval from HDFC Securities. Please go ahead.

Dhaval Desai
Business Manager and Channel Coordinator, HDFC Securities

Hi. My question has been answered. Thank you.

Operator

Sorry to interrupt. Dhaval, you there? Hello?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

The question has been answered. Just what you mentioned.

Dhaval Desai
Business Manager and Channel Coordinator, HDFC Securities

Yes.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Indrak umar Gupta from PL Capital. Please go ahead.

Indrakumar Gupta
Equity Research Analyst, PL Capital Group

Thank you for the opportunity. I just wanted to know what is the strategy or the roadmap to get the use or pay dues recovered because last quarter also we saw some impact on the PNL and this quarter as well. I just wanted to understand what is the roadmap going forward regarding that aspect.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

We already have a settlement agreement in place. You must have reflected that last year also we could recover the amount on account of use or pay charges. This year also, going forward, we expect the same thing to happen.

Indrakumar Gupta
Equity Research Analyst, PL Capital Group

Any number in mind?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Sorry?

Indrakumar Gupta
Equity Research Analyst, PL Capital Group

Any amount, I mean, any figure if you can possibly recover this year?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Any, sorry, come again, please. I couldn't get your question.

Indrakumar Gupta
Equity Research Analyst, PL Capital Group

No, it's okay. How much are you going to?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Oh, I don't think that number is important at this stage. See, this use or pay settlement agreement that we have with our promoter companies mainly. We have very good relations with them. Most of our 98% of our business is with our promoter companies. We don't see any issues in getting the use or pay charges. Number, I don't think at on date is important for us. We are quite confident we have the bank guarantees in place. We don't see any scenario of going for encashment of the bank guarantees also. Our promoter companies will be paying us upfront whatever deficit will be there by the time it comes. As we move to accounts, the COI 22 outstanding is INR 694 crore, which will be up for collection this year.

Indrakumar Gupta
Equity Research Analyst, PL Capital Group

Okay. Okay. Thank you. One more question, if I may ask. Last quarter, there was some impact from FACT where they had a shutdown. Just wanted to know the status, if that is back up, that will take some volumes off from the H or Kochi?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

They are up and running now. Of course, these shutdowns will keep on happening. Next quarter, we may have some other facility shutdown. This is part of a regular maintenance program which we have for various facilities. Kochi we come to now because the utilization level is low. There is a reason Kochi we have to tell. Otherwise, this is a regular activity for all fertilizer or other manufacturing units.

Indrakumar Gupta
Equity Research Analyst, PL Capital Group

Okay. Okay. Thanks a lot. Thanks for the question.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Sagar Shah with from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Sagar Shah
Vice President and Data Owner Lead, JPMorganChase

Hello, sir. Am I audible?

Operator

Yes, you're audible. Please go ahead.

Sagar Shah
Vice President and Data Owner Lead, JPMorganChase

Okay. I just had one question. If you could throw some light on competition and competitive intensity in the regasification facilities in India. I was just noticing this quarter, Indian LNG import seems to have risen. But overall, at the company level, we've kind of fallen a bit. Is this some one-off or is there some structural trend to this?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

See, in any business, if new infrastructure capacity is created or new terminals have come up by way of greenfield or brownfield expansion, there will be initial restructuring of the business. Going forward, as told earlier by Mr. Vivek Mittal, we are expecting the LNG volumes to go up in the near future from 7% to 10-11%. Keeping in mind, we have also gone ahead for our expansion. We are also coming up with a new terminal in the east coast in Gopalpur.

In this business, infrastructure has to exceed the demand. There is an inherent demand available in the market. Only thing is that the capacity to absorb that demand has to be created. We are doing the same. If you have observed that there is a shift in the near term of the cargoes moving from one terminal to another, it's a short-term phenomena. We are quite confident that going forward with our expanded capacities in Dahej as well as the new terminal coming up in Gopalpur, we'll be able to serve the country to moving towards a gas-based economy going forward.

Sagar Shah
Vice President and Data Owner Lead, JPMorganChase

Understood, sir. Just a follow-up then. The 7-11% growth that you mentioned, which sectors are you banking on in terms of leading this growth?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

There are quite a few sectors. I would say Petchem, refining, power, fertilizer, mining equipment, then LNG as a transport fuel, CGD, so these are the major areas of growth that we can going forward will witness.

Sagar Shah
Vice President and Data Owner Lead, JPMorganChase

All right. Is it fair to assume CGD will lead the growth amongst the pack?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yes. Yes. Definitely.

Sagar Shah
Vice President and Data Owner Lead, JPMorganChase

All right. Thank you so much for answering the questions, sir.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Bineet Banka from Nomura Holdings. Please go ahead.

Bineet Banka
Associate of Equity Research, Nomura

Hi. Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Following up on UOP, I think as of Q4 FY 2026 end, cumulative provisions are around INR 7.4 billion. I understand that most of these provisions were created between third quarter FY 2022 and fourth quarter FY 2023. How much of these provisions will be returned back over the next two quarters? I believe you said INR 694 crore is something we are looking at. Can you give a number?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

By the time we reach December, actually, about 87.5% of this INR 695 crore would have been provided for. This will be the reversal, basically.

Bineet Banka
Associate of Equity Research, Nomura

In the third quarter, we can expect around INR 650 crore reversal.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

See, third quarter of the financial year is the settlement quarter, that quarter end. As you can see from the past trend, the BGs are actually live till the end of March. The exact settlement will happen in the fourth quarter only. The reversal will also be taken in the fourth quarter once the payments are.

Bineet Banka
Associate of Equity Research, Nomura

Okay, sir. Thank you. My second question is on other expenses. Why it was, I think it was up quite a bit if you look at the quarterly trend over the year?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

See, because we have mentioned that in the lease accounting, there is a forex loss of INR 840 million, national forex loss. If you take that out, then the other expenses will be in line.

Bineet Banka
Associate of Equity Research, Nomura

Sir, what is this pertaining to the forex loss? Is this on the payables in US dollar term for Qatargas or something else?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

No, no. We have done the lease accounting majorly on the vessels that we have chartered for the Qatargas volumes. On those vessel charters, if you can see the balances, there is a lease liability, which is in US dollars, approximately around a little less than $300 million right now. There was an impact of about INR 3.25 per dollar in this quarter. That amounts to about INR 84 crore national forex loss.

Bineet Banka
Associate of Equity Research, Nomura

What do you think about trying to hedge this exposure? Because this is something which creates volatility on every quarter. Why not just hedge this? Since you already have a lot of cash in rupee terms, maybe you can also look at parking some of that money in US dollars.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

These costs are actually passed through to the off-takers for our contract. So it is a natural hedge, basically.

Bineet Banka
Associate of Equity Research, Nomura

Okay, sir. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Somaya from M&S Park. Please go ahead.

Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity, sir. A few questions. First thing is on this Qatar contract where we got it extended. Also, with respect to off-takers, we did mention from a volume standpoint, we have back-to-back signed. On the pricing, still it was not finalized. Any update there in terms of timeline or what to expect there?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Firstly, pricing is also on a back-to-back basis. The discussions for finding those agreements are already ongoing. We are hopeful in the next few months' time, we should be able to conclude these agreements.

Sir, I was looking at more from the tariff standpoint, the existing tariffs, I mean, the continuation at similar levels and the continuation of the 5% clause. We can't divulge these details. Actually, at this point in time, we cannot talk about that. We have told the existing community that kindly wait for us till we talk about this once the conclusion of the contract is done. Contrary to whatever rumors are going on in the market. Got it, sir. Any timelines around when we expect another two-three months for the discussions to kind of get over? Any timeline around this?

We expect that we should be able to come up with some good news by March FY 2026.

Got it, sir. Second question is on the cash position. Quite a strong cash buildup. Yeah, we are doing a couple of projects. Any thoughts on higher payouts or this will be completely utilized for the expansion project, sir?

Okay. No, we would like to keep the dividend payment at the same level as we have been doing it in the past.

Okay, sir. Sir, on Gopalpur and Birkin, timeline and CapEx, if you could just highlight it again if possible.

Gopalpur, I have already told that we are awaiting the EC clearance. There is a revised requirement of EC due to the technical difference between an FSRU and a land-based terminal. We have submitted whatever additional documents and information that were required by the authority. We are awaiting the clearance from the authority side. The moment it comes, we'll be able to do it. We expect that going forward from now onwards, it will take around three years, subject to obviously obtaining the EC clearance. Petchem, there is no shift in the timeline as of now.

Got it, sir. Any CapEx number for Gopalpur for now, sir?

As I told you earlier also, we have acquired the land. That is the major CapEx that we have incurred till date.

Sure. Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Yogesh Patil from Petronet LNG. Please go ahead.

Yogesh Patil
Analyst of Equity, Dolat Capital

Thanks for taking my question, sir.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Sorry, Mr. Patil, you are from which company?

Yogesh Patil
Analyst of Equity, Dolat Capital

Yogesh Patil, sir.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Okay.

Yogesh Patil
Analyst of Equity, Dolat Capital

Okay. Yogesh Patil here from Dolat Capital. Thanks for taking my question. The question is related to the capital expenditure. Sir, as per reported cash flow statement, we have paid INR 525 crore amount in the first half FY 2026. While we are guiding the CapEx of INR 5,000 crore for full year FY 2026, the CapEx jumps from INR 500 crore to INR 5,000 crore in the next six months. If you could give some guidance on that side?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Okay. The major CapEx basically will be incurred in three projects. Number one, obviously Petchem. Number two, we have kept a large chunk of CapEx for our Gopalpur terminal. Again, as I have told you, that all depends on the timely EC clearance. As far as Petchem, and the third one is the JP. Both the work progress in JP and Petchem are going on schedule. As far as the CapEx on Petchem is concerned, I would say that you will see a major CapEx during the H2 of this financial year. The reason being because the major work packages have been already awarded, and a few major ones are in the pipeline at advanced stages of award. The moment these major packages, which are in the pipeline, get awarded, you will see cash flow on that account.

Yogesh Patil
Analyst of Equity, Dolat Capital

A few CapExes are still waiting to be awarded. There is a chance that a portion of CapEx will slip into FY 2027, like June 2026?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

As of now, we don't expect that.

Yogesh Patil
Analyst of Equity, Dolat Capital

Okay. So you are confident that in FY 2026, the CapEx number would be around INR 5,000 crore?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yes. As of now, subject to condition that we get the EC clearance of Gopalpur on time.

Yogesh Patil
Analyst of Equity, Dolat Capital

Okay. Second question related to our Z gas contracts renewal with the off-takers. So what exact month of the year these contracts are going to end, and it will again resume post-renewal? Is it December 2027 or March 2028?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yes, sir. The existing contract is till April 2028. Immediately after that, the new contract kicks in.

Yogesh Patil
Analyst of Equity, Dolat Capital

2028, March 2028?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Sorry?

Yogesh Patil
Analyst of Equity, Dolat Capital

Is it the month of March 2028 or some other months are they?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

April 2028.

Yogesh Patil
Analyst of Equity, Dolat Capital

Okay. Thanks a lot, sir. All the best.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aman Choudhury from Jefferies Financial Group. Please go ahead. Excuse me, Aman, you there?

Am I audible.

Actually, your sound is coming muffled. As this participant line got disconnected, we'll move on to the next question. The next question is from the line of Sabri Hazarika from Emkay Global Financial Services. Please go ahead.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity once again. I just have a bookkeeping question. This provision that you have taken, I think INR 740 crore. Can you break it up between calendar year 2022 and calendar year 2023?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yes, Sabri. Yeah. For CY 2022, the provision till date is INR 520 crore. CY 2023 is INR 203 crore. CY 2024, INR 12 crore.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Okay. Fair enough. Second is, any guidance you'd like to give on FY 2026 volumes? Are we at the same level right now? Any color on that?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

FY 2026 overall, year, you are asking?

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Yeah. This year.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

See, this is difficult. Actually, see, we have to see, you know, that there are two major points, the monsoon and the winter. The next milestone is approaching. We have to see how hard or how soft the winter is globally. It will depend.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Right. And right now, are we at the same level of utilization, if you could state that?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yes. You can also take that from the PPSC guidelines as well. So same level of kind of important utilization is going on.

Sabri Hazarika
Research Analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services Ltd

Okay. Thank you so much.

Operator

Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aman Choudhury from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Aman Puri
Managing Director, Jefferies India Private Limited

Yeah. Hi. Sorry, I got cut off. Just wanted to ask how much CapEx have we done in FY 2026 and till date in the Petchem plant that we are building?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Okay. So Petchem plant, we have spent around INR 600 crore plus.

Aman Puri
Managing Director, Jefferies India Private Limited

This is till date, right?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Yes. Till date.

Aman Puri
Managing Director, Jefferies India Private Limited

Out of the INR 533 crore that we have done as a company in FY 2026 first half, how much would that be for the Petchem plant?

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Major portion will be on Petchem only.

Aman Puri
Managing Director, Jefferies India Private Limited

Okay. Sure.

Okay. Sure. Thanks.

Operator

Due to time constraint, that was the last question for today's conference. I now hand the conference over to the management. Thank you. Over to you, sir.

Saurav Mitra
Director of Finance and CFO, Petronet LNG Limited

Thank you. I would like to end by stating that we remain committed to India's energy security and sustainable growth. Thank you for your support. Thank you once again.

Operator

On behalf of IIFL Capital Services Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.

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