Gujarat Gas hikes prices for Morbi customers second time in a fortnight

Natural gas distribution company Gujarat Gas on September 1 hiked gas prices for customers in Gujarat’s Morbi for the second time in a fortnight. The price has been hiked Rs 2.5 per standard cubic meter of gas (scm) to Rs 43.3/scm effective today.

The state-run Gujarat Gas had earlier on August 21 announced a Rs 2.50 price hike in industrial gas — to Rs 40.83 per scm from the current Rs 38.43 per scm.

The price hike comes against the backdrop of rising global gas prices. It must be noted that Gujarat Gas imports most of its gas.

Prior to the hike in industrial gas last month, Gujarat Gas had implemented five consecutive price cuts in 2023. Sources had earlier told CNBC-TV18 that the price increase was due to increased spot liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices.

In August, Gujarat Gas reported a 43.4 percent year-on-year (YoY) decline in net profit at Rs 215.1 crore for the April to June quarter. In its quarterly earnings report, the company said its industrial sales volumes increased to 5.88 mmscmd (million metric scm per day) from 5.36 mmscmd in the preceding quarter — an increase of 10 percent.

This was due to softer spot LNG prices, the benefit of which was passed to industrial customers to make natural gas more competitive to alternate fuels, the company had said.

Following the development, Gujarat Gas share were trading almost a percent higher at Rs 453.60 at Rs 11:56 am.