RoydadNaft –  Indian firm Adani Total Gas reported on Thursday a 7.5% increase in its consolidated profit for the quarter ended September 30, as sales of compressed natural gas (CNG) for vehicles continue to grow.

Adani Total Gas, part of the Adani conglomerate in India, thus reported higher profits for the seventh consecutive quarter amid a wider government-led push for cleaner vehicle fuel use.

Diesel is still the most widely used road transport fuel in India, with sales outstripping the consumption of gasoline.

Adani Total Gas said on Thursday that its consolidated profit increased by 7.5% to $22.2 million (1.87 billion Indian rupees) in the July-September quarter compared to the same period last year.

Revenues also rose, driven by CNG sales, which represent about 67% of Adani Total Gas’s overall sales. CNG sales jumped by 20% in the September quarter from a year earlier.

The company is expanding its gas sales across India. Last month, Adani Total Gas entered into a maiden financing agreement for $375 million with international lenders to help it accelerate its City Gas Distribution (CGD) infrastructure program.

Adani Total Gas has been promoting LNG for transport use and it could benefit immensely from the expected robust growth in India’s gas demand.

Apart from fuel for transportation, India plans to ramp up LNG imports and the use of natural gas as a fuel cleaner than coal and needed in many industrial processes.

India’s industry expansion and rising oil refining to meet higher fuel demand are set to drive a tripling of the country’s natural gas consumption by 2050, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said earlier this year.

Per the EIA forecasts, India’s gas demand – buoyed by oil refining and other industrial production – is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4.4% by 2050, more than twice the 2.0% annual growth rate of gas consumption in China, the next-fastest-growing country.