IGI Logo

GAIL (India) Ltd, the country's largest gas distributor, reported a 77.5% slump in its quarterly profit on Thursday, dented by weakness in its petrochemicals segment.

The company's standalone profit after tax slumped to 6.04 billion rupees ($73.86 million) in the quarter ended March 31, from 26.83 billion rupees a year earlier.

The state-owned gas company's revenue from operations rose about 22% to 328.58 billion rupees. Still, its petrochemicals segment saw a 46% drop in sales.

Gail's natural gas marketing segment, which contributes 96% of the total revenue, gained from higher volumes and lower costs, and delivered a 37% jump in quarterly revenue.

The company had agreed to a 20-year purchase deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom in 2012 for annual purchases of about 2.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

Gazprom had given up ownership of Germany's Sefe after Western sanctions were imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine last year.

Last month, Gail reported it would get four cargoes of LNG from Sefe, equivalent to the volumes it was getting under a deal with a former unit of Russia's Gazprom.

The resumption of supplies from Sefe has been crucial for GAIL. The Indian company had seen its profit plunge after Sefe stopped supplying LNG in May last year to meet its own demand.

GAIL continues to battle with increasing expenses, which jumped ~40% to 332.85 billion rupees during the reported quarter.

($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)