Laugfs Gas ties up with Bharat Petroleum

By Deepal V. Perera

Laugfs Gas Plc just one month after concluding its Initial Public Offering (IPO) announced that it had signed an agreement with India’s number one energy giant Fortune 500 Company Bharat Petroleum

Corporation Limited to introduce innovative Metal Cutting Gas to the local market which is expected to revolutionise the industrial sector by offering safe cutting gas at a lower cost.

Chairman of Laugfs Gas Plc W.K. Wegapitiya signed the agreement with Director (Marketing) of Bharat Petroleum India Limited S. Radhakrishnan in Chennai, India on Tuesday.

On his return to Sri Lanka yesterday Wegapitiya told Daily FT that this was great achievement for the company where  for the first time Bharat Petroleum India Limited agreed for ‘joint branding’ to launch Laugfs Bharat Metal Cutting Gas” (LBMCG).

“We signed a joint venture agreement with Bharat Petroleum India Limited to introduce innovative metal cutting gas for the Sri Lankan metal cutting industry. Accordingly we will be launching our new product ‘Laugfs Bharat Metal Cutting Gas’, a red cylinder on the 11th of this month. We will be using our existing infrastructure to make available our new product across the country.

The introduction of LBMCG would revolutionise the country’s industrial sector by reducing the cutting gas cost by 40 %,”he said.

According to Laugfs the new LBMCG is a technological innovation and a significant breakthrough made after extensive research and development in the metal cutting and brazing applications industry by the Government of India owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

Under the new joint venture the company would import, and sell this product in Sri Lanka with technical and operational services provided by the Indian counterpart.

Commenting on the new product the Laugfs Chairman said that LBMCG is a Hydrocarbon based industrial gas mixed with an innovative additive that enhances flame temperature and produces fine cut finish un-paralleled, at a very low cost compared to Acetylene. The main benefit of using the new product is that will cause less carbon formation, needs low maintenance and prolongs the life of nozzles, reduces fuel inventory, lower frequency of changing cylinders and lesser cylinder handling cost. Higher penetration and a faster cutting speed, very effective for cutting metals of higher thicknesses (40 mm above), smooth cutting surface and reduction in slag formation. It is marketed in weight (kg) and therefore could be measured easily and Yields 30 - 40% savings on overall cutting costs.

Its safety features are — the new product also offers features such as virtual impossibility to back fire or flash back, a safe environment due to the lower pressure in the cylinders, less luminous flame means less harm to the eye, easy detection in case of a leak due its unique pungent smell.

Wegapitiya also said that LBMCG is used in the applications of cutting, brazing, heating, soldering, coating, gas surfacing, flame spraying, flame straightening and hardening.

Commenting on the existing cutting gas that is available in the country Wegapitiya said that the most commonly used metal cutting gas in Sri Lanka was Acetylene mixed with Oxygen. However acetylene is prone to industrial hazards and is extremely flammable and explosive and that many users may not be aware of the characteristics of Acetylene that create special hazards compared to other gases.

He also said that the existing cutting gas in the market was more prone to many hazards such as the possibility to explode due to its excess pressure, excess temperature, static electricity or mechanical shock.

Investors toast move as Laugfs share price gain

In a direct response to the deal with Bharat Petroleum, the share prices of Laugfs Gas Ltd., securities gained yesterday.

Its voting share gained by Rs. 2.40 to  close at Rs. 28.90 after touching an intra-day high of Rs. 29.40 whilst nonvoting share gained by Rs. 3.20 to Rs. 22.30 after peaking to Rs. 23.

Voting shares saw two crossings of 2.38 million at Rs. 30 whilst trading of 7.2 million shares generated the second highest turnover of Rs. 208 million yesterday. There were 3.28 million nonvoting shares of Laugfs traded.