India’s Adani Total Gas posts drop in quarterly profit on higher procurement charges

India’s Adani Total Gas, reported a drop in fourth-quarter profit on Monday, as a fall in allocated supply from the government led to higher gas purchase costs.

The company, a joint venture of Adani Group and French oil major TotalEnergies SE, said its consolidated net profit fell about 8% to 1.55 billion rupees ($18.23 million) in the three months ended March 31.

The Indian government had cut cheaper gas supplies to city gas distributors like Adani Total Gas, citing lower output by producers in the country.

The allocation improved in January, the company had mentioned in its December earnings report. However, that remained lower on a year-on-year basis.

Adani Total Gas’ natural gas costs rose 28%, leading to a 21% surge in its total expenses to 12.64 billion rupees.

India’s Adani opens giant Sri Lanka container terminal

However, demand for compressed natural gas (CNG) - which is Adani Total’s biggest segment - remained higher due to the government’s push to make cleaner-burning energy more accessible and cut vehicular pollution.

Its CNG volumes, which account for more-than-half of its total sales, grew 18% in the latest quarter, boosted by the addition of 42 new stations, across the country, on a standalone basis. The company currently operates 647 CNG stations.

Sales volume in its other vertical, piped natural gas (PNG), rose 5% to 87 million standard cubic meters of gas per day.

Its overall revenue from operations increased to 14.53 billion rupees from 12.58 billion rupees a year ago.