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Background
On December 31, 2015, Petronet LNG (PLL) announced that it has renegotiated the terms of its long-term
LNG supply contract with Rasgas, Qatar. Rasgas has agreed to modify the formula for calculating the LNG
price, which will lead to the reduction of the LNG price by half; it has also waived off the penalty for low
volume offtake in 2015. On the other hand, Petronet LNG has committed to increase the volume of LNG to be
purchased from Rasgas.
CRISIL Research believes that this renegotiation is a significant positive for players across the LNG
value chain, as lower prices increase offtake of contracted LNG as well as improve the profitability of
consumers. In particular, players such as Petronet LNG, GAIL, Gujarat Gas and Indraprastha Gas are
likely to benefit. However, this is unlikely to meaningfully increase the total LNG demand from endusers, as prices of alternate fuels such as coal and crude oil have also significantly declined in the
recent past; this will limit LNG offtake from end-users.
Key insights
New pricing terms to cut LNG price (DES India) by ~50% to $6-6.5 /mmbtu, increase volatility
Exemption from take-or-pay obligation to remove $1.4 billion penalty uncertainty on Petronet LNG
Urea subsidy to fall Rs. 35 billion. GAIL's petchem business to witness savings upto Rs 20 billion.
Improved cost competitiveness to support LNG demand from refineries, industrial users of CGD
Despite lower price, LNG demand from power capped by weak affordability and cheap alternatives
In the following sections, we have elaborated the key terms of the revised contract and their likely impact on
LNG price, as well as the impact of lower LNG price on various end-users.
Classification: EXTERNAL
1
As per media reports, Rasgas has agreed to link the contracted LNG price to average crude oil price
(Dated Brent) for the preceding three months. There would also be a fixed component of $0.6 per mmbtu.
This is likely to halve LNG price in January 2016 to $6-6.5 per mmbtu from about $12 per mmbtu as per
the earlier formula.
On the other hand, PLL has agreed to increase LNG purchase from Rasgas by 1 million tonnes per
annum (mtpa), taking its annual purchase obligation to 8.5 mtpa. This incremental LNG will be supplied to
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL), GAIL (India) Ltd. and
Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC).
In addition, Rasgas also agreed to waive off the penalty of about $1.4 billion due to lower-than-committed
offtake of LNG volumes during 2015. It has permitted PLL to make up the shortfall through higher
purchases over the remaining duration of the contract period.
43
54
99
103
95
95
43
Slope
Fixed component
LNG price (FoB Qatar)
Shipping cost (est.)
LNG price (DES India)
Decline in price
Source: Media reports, CRISIL Research estimates
12.67%
12.67%
0.6
12.0
6.0
0.3
0.3
12.3
6.3
-49%
Impact analysis:
Exemption from take-or-pay obligation to remove penalty uncertainty on Petronet LNG
The renegotiation of the contract is likely to benefit PLL given its exposure to penalty under the take-or-pay
provision. According to the contract, PLL is obligated to offtake 7.5 mtpa of LNG from Rasgas Qatar on an
annual basis. During (January-December 2015), PLL is estimated to have purchased 35-40% less volumes
than committed, as end-users shifted to alternates such as spot LNG and furnace oil due to favorable cost
economics. Consequently, PLL would have been exposed to a penalty of ~$1.4 billion, as shown below.
However, Rasgas has agreed to exempt PLL from paying this penalty, provided that PLL makes up the deficit
(~2.8 mtpa) through higher purchases over the life of the contract. Thus, this exemption will remove
uncertainty regarding the payment of penalty by PLL to Rasgas. PLL can offtake these volumes over the next
14 years, since the contract will expire only in 2029.
Estimation of penalty due to low offtake of contracted LNG
Item
Unit
Contracted quantity
MTPA
7.5
MTPA
0.75
Minimum quantity
MTPA
6.75
MTPA
4.65
Shortfall
MTPA
2.1
Price of LNG
$/mmbtu
12.6
Penalty
$ billion
1.4
PLLs regas volumes to see limited upside; Spot LNG demand to take a hit
PLL has increased the volume of long-term contracted LNG with Rasgas by 1 mtpa to 8.5 mtpa from 2016.
Further, PLL has also entered into back-to-back agreements with IOCL, BPCL, GAIL and GSPC for
marketing this LNG, which will improve revenue visibility.
While we expect the demand for contracted LNG to be healthy, given the steep reduction in price, we do not
expect overall LNG volumes to witness a significant growth. This is because the increase in demand for
contracted LNG is likely to be driven by users who had switched to spot LNG, to take advantage of its lower
prices. Since these players are likely to switch back to contracted LNG, we expect higher contracted LNG use
to result in lower spot LNG demand, providing only marginal upside to total LNG demand. However, spot
LNG demand is likely to reduce significantly, which will hit LNG suppliers as well as LNG regasification
terminals operating on a spot/short-term basis, given an over-supplied market.
For instance, despite a sharp fall in contracted LNG volumes, PLLs 10 mtpa Dahej terminal continued to
operate at an utilisation of over 100% in 2015 due to higher spot volumes. Moreover, while PLL is expanding
the terminals capacity to 15 mtpa, it has already tied up almost the entire capacity under use-or-pay
contracts with LNG marketers. Consequently, we do not expect the renegotiation of the Rasgas contract to
materially boost total regasification volumes at PLLs Dahej terminal.
Million tonnes
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
2013-14
2014-15
Long-term
Spot/Third-party
Q2
Q1
Q4
Q3
Q2
Q1
Q4
Q3
Q2
Q1
2015-16
Total
Halving of LNG price to reduce urea subsidy burden by about Rs. 35 billion
The government regulates the selling price of urea, which is way below the cost of production. It also
provides a subsidy to reimburse urea manufacturers the difference between the selling price and the cost of
production, assuming a normative profit. Thus, the decline in contracted LNG price would lead to reduction in
the governments subsidy burden. As per our estimates, with the average delivered cost expected to come
down by ~$5 per mmbtu, ~Rs. 35 billion savings on urea subsidy will ensue.
However, the reduction in LNG price is unlikely to increase demand from urea plants, since LNG cost is a
pass-through for computing subsidy payment.
Estimation of reduction in urea subsidy due to reduction in LNG price
Item
Units
mmscmd
mmbtu
104,285,714
$/mmbtu
14
$/mmbtu
$/mmbtu
$ Mn
526
Exchange rate
Rs/$
66
Rs Bn
35
Quantity
GAILs petchem segment to witness upto Rs. 20 billion saving due to lower feedstock price
GAILs profitability will increase sharply due to reduction in feedstock cost of its petrochemical segment. Due
to dwindling domestic gas supply, GAIL has increasingly resorted to the use of LNG in their petrochemical
plant at Pata, Uttar Pradesh. Given the fall in petrochemical prices and high contracted LNG price, the
segments PBIT margins turned negative January 2015 onwards compared to the over 30% recorded prior to
2014-15. Consequently, assuming the entire capacity operates on contracted LNG, the reduction in LNG
price is estimated to result in upto Rs 20 billion saving in the petrochemical segment in 2016-17.
Trend in PBIT of GAILs petrochemical business
Rs. Billion
5
60%
40%
3
20%
2
1
0%
-20%
-1
-40%
-2
-60%
-3
2013-14
2014-15
PBIT
Q2
Q1
Q4
Q3
Q2
Q1
Q4
Q3
Q2
-80%
Q1
-4
2015-16
PBIT Margin
Cost competitiveness of LNG to improve vs liquid fuels for refineries, industrial customers
LNG demand from refineries and other industrial users, where it competes with liquid fuels, is likely to be
supported by the reduction in contracted LNG price. Post the correction, contracted LNG price is likely to be
almost at par with that of liquid fuels, compared to the earlier premium of almost 50%. This is likely to
encourage refiners, who have shifted to liquid fuels and spot LNG, to increase purchase of contracted LNG.
Similarly, smaller industrial users catered by city gas distributers such as Indraprastha Gas and Gujarat Gas
are also likely to increase their LNG consumption. This will support volume growth of city gas distributers
from the industrial segment, which is estimated to have declined by ~12% in 2014-15. Further, while the price
reduction is likely to be largely passed on to end-users, it is also expected to aid profitability of CGD
operators.
18.0
16.0
15.0-16.0
14.0-15.0
14.0
12.0
9.0-10.0
10.0
9.0-10.0
7.0-8.0
8.0
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
FY 2017E
FO
LSHS
Commerical LPG
Note: All price estimates are based on delivery in Gujarat and include taxes.
Source: CRISIL Research estimates
Despite lower price, LNG demand from power plants to be subdued given weak affordability
and cheaper alternatives
Reduction in the price of contracted LNG will sharply pull down the cost of power generation using natural
gas. Despite this, we do not expect LNG consumption by power plants to increase significantly, at least in the
short term. This is primarily on account of poor affordability of high-cost power by distribution companies
(discoms) as well as availability of lower-cost power from coal-based power plants and short-term markets.
For instance, the variable cost of power generation from contracted LNG (~Rs. 5 per kWh) is likely to be more
than double the cost from even imported coal (~Rs. 2 per kWh).
Therefore, we expect only limited upswing in LNG usage by the power sector on account of the price
reduction. This will be driven by Southern states such as Andhra Pradesh, which have relatively high power
deficits and where short-term power prices exceed Rs. 4 per unit. On the other hand, demand for contracted
LNG is likely to be limited in power-surplus states such as Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Comparison of variable cost of power generation across fuels
(Rs./kwh)
10.0
9.0
9.0
8.0
7.0
6.0
5.2
5.0
3.3
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.9
0.9
1.0
Domestic coal
Imported coal
Analytical Contacts:
Rahul Prithiani
Mayur Patil
Email: rahul.prithiani@crisil.com
Email: mayur.patil@crisil.com
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