HLL Lifecare Limited, the mini-ratna Central public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has become the first PSU in the country to use cost-efficient Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) for its production facilities.
The company, formerly known as Hindustan Latex Ltd, has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Petronet LNG Ltd (PLL) for a long-term procurement of LNG to power its two factories at Peroorkada and Akkulam in Thiruvananthapuram.
Peroorkada facility is the main condom-manufacturing unit of the HLL which produces over 1.316 billion condoms annually to account for 10 per cent of the total global production. The other facility at Akkulam is into manufacturing of blood bags and other medical devices, said a release here.
Terming this agreement as path-breaking, HLL chairman and the managing director M Ayyappan said, “the demand for LNG is going to grow many-fold in India and it will turn out to be the most cost effective solution for organization like ours. Our tie-up with Petronet is an attempt to ensure HLL’s effort of coming up with innovative ideas to counter the massive energy shortage in this country. We expect that this contract with Petronet will go a long way in developing and adopting current technologies in the manufacturing sector.”
HLL currently uses 10,000 kg of furnace oil per day for its boiler plants. The LNG requirement of the company would be in the range from 1 to 1.2 tonne per day at the cost of Rs. 2,80,000/day. This translates to Rs. 10 crore every year. Petronet will commence supplying the gas after commissioning their LNG terminal at Kochi.
According to HLL director (technical and operations), M D Sreekumar, “this transaction illustrates HLL's commitment towards India's growing concern for energy conservation. The objective of the MoU is to develop a direct and long-term relationship with Petronet.”
There has been a growing concern in India about energy conservation and many corporates are shifting towards natural gas, as it is reliable, affordable and clean fuel for a wide variety of needs.
LNG is predominantly methane, CH4, which is converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport. LNG is only about 1/600th volume of natural gas in the gaseous state. The reduction in volume makes it much more cost efficient to transport over long distances. Where moving natural gas by pipelines is not possible or economical, it can be transported by specially designed LNG carriers or cryogenic road tankers.
FACTS Global Energy, which monitors international trends in oil and gas, estimates that India's LNG imports in calendar 2011 would rise 40 per cent to 12.5 million tonnes.