Nakilat triples quarterly profit

Qatar Gas Transport (Nakilat), which ships liquefied natural gas (LNG), tripled profit in the third quarter, beating an analyst's expectation. The shares fell more than 2%.

Net income in the three months to September 30 surged 200% to 33.95 million riyals ($9.33 million) compared with 11.09 million riyals in the year-earlier period, Reuters calculated, based on nine-month data.

Doha-based Dlala Brokerage & Investment forecast profit of 15.94 million riyals in a Reuters survey last month.

Profit in the nine-months to September 30 was 88.3 million riyals, or 0.169 riyals per share, compared with 39.3 million riyals, or 0.142 riyals per share, in the year-earlier period, Nakilat said in a statement on the Doha bourse website. It did not give more details.

Shares of Nakilat, which jumped 3.08% on Sunday, were down 2.59% at 0710 GMT.

Still, the stock has more than doubled this year, the second-best performance in the Doha index and outpacing benchmark by 58%.

Set up in 2004, Nakilat plans to own as many as 56 LNG and four liquefied petroleum gas tankers by 2010, the company said in February.

Of these, four were delivered last year and eight will be delivered this year, the company said.

Qatar can produce as much as 31 million tonnes per year of LNG - natural gas that is cooled to a liquid for export by ship.

Last year, the Gulf Arab state was the world's largest exporter of the fuel, supplying 15% of the global total.

Qatar, the world's third-largest holder of natural gas reserves, plans to more that double LNG production to 77 million tonnes per year by 2010. - Reuters

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