Laugfs enters JV with Bharat Petrolium

6 January 2011 05:58 am

Laugfs Chairman W.K.H. Weapitiya shakes hands with R.L. Gupta, Director (LPG) of Barat Petroleum Corporation Ltd after signingthe joint venture. In the background is S. Radhakrishnan Director Marketing and K Chandi General Manager South both from Bharat. Mohan Perera from Laugfs Gas Ltd is also in the picture.

Laugfs Gas Ltd. has entered into a joint venture agreement with Bharat Petrolium Corp. of India to introduce innovative metal cutting gas in Sri Lanka under the brand name Laugfs Bharat Metal Cutting gas (LBMCG), a stock exchange filing by the firm noted.

The filing further said that Laugfs will only have to pay a royalty fee of US $ 250 per metric ton quarterly or part thereof on the gas sold under the license from BPCL.

According to Laugfs Chairman W.K.H Wegapitiya, LBMCG is trying to replace the most common metal cutting gas used in Sri Lanka, which is acetylene mixed with oxygen.

"Curently oxygen and acetylene are used for metal cutting in Sri Lanka and LBMCG will be 50 percent cheaper to acetylene. We expect LBMCG to be met with heavy demand and expect it togive a big boost for our bottom line" Wegapitiya said.

Laugfs has scheduled the launch of LBMCG on January 11.

The Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd is an Indian government owned energy giant, amongst the world's Ffortune 500 companies. Bharat Petroleum developed this product under their initiative "BEYOND LPG" and in the year 2010 the product recorded a sale over Indian Rs. 7 billion which is around 59% growth over the previous year. Bharat

Petroleum has developed strategic alliances with this product in number of foreign ountries and the overseas initiatives are gathering momentum.