PETALING JAYA: Petronas Gas Bhd’s (PetGas) net profit fell 13.6% to RM431.59 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2019 against RM499.81 million in the same period of the previous year, attributed to lower revenue from the gas transportation and utilities segments as well as higher finance, repair and maintenance costS.
Revenue for the period stood at RM1.34 billion, a 4.5% decline from RM1.4 billion reported previously.
PetGas has declared an interim dividend of 18 sen per share for the quarter under review.
According to the group’s Bursa filing, the gas processing segment reported a 7.8% increase in revenue driven by reservation charge under the second term of the Gas Processing Agreement which came into effect on Jan 1, 2019.
The gas transportation business’ revenue went down 15.2%, in line with lower gas transportation tariff for Peninsular Malaysia under Incentive-based Regulation.
The regasification segment remained comparable at RM313.8 million against the corresponding quarter, as its decrease in Pengerang, Johor terminal was offset by higher revenue in regasification terminals in Sg Udang, Malacca.
As for the utiltities business, revenue fell 11.4% in line with lower volumes following planned statutory turnaround at one of the group’s air separation unit in Kertih.
For the cumulative nine-month period, PetGas reported a net profit of RM1.45 billion, a 2.8% decline from RM1.49 billion recorded in the same period a year ago, with revenue contracting slightly at 0.6% to RM4.09 billion from RM4.11 billion.
PetGas said with the Energy Commission’s approving the tariffs for the gas transportation and regasification services for pilot regulatory period in 2019, it is expected to affect the group’s transportation and regasification business segment revenues in 2019, but both segments are anticipated to continue contributing positively to the group’s earnings.
“The group’s gas processing segment is expected to deliver improved earnings pursuant to the higher fixed reservation charge under the second term of the 20-year Gas Processing Agreement effective from 2019 until 2023.
