Thiruvananthapuram, July 7 (IANS) HLL Lifecare Limited  has become the first public sector undertaking in Kerala to switch over to liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power its factories.

 
 HLL Life Care is the leading provider of a wide range of contraceptives, hospital products, pharma products, health care solutions and also has a service division which is into procurement, consultancy and infrastructure development.
 
 The central government-owned company became the first in Kerala to  tie up with Petronet LNG Ltd. (PLL) for long-term procurement of liquefied natural gas to run its factories.
 
 The gas will now be used at two HLL factories here after the commissioning of their LNG terminal at Kochi.
 
 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 1-1.2 tonnes per day at the cost of Rs.280,000 per day. This translates to Rs.10 crore every year.
 
 HLL CMD M. Ayyappan said the demand for LNG was going to grow in the country and it would turn out to be the most cost effective solution for organisations like his.
 
 “Our tie-up with Petronet is an attempt to come up with innovative ideas to counter the massive energy shortage in the country. We expect this contract with Petronet will go a long way in developing and adopting current technologies in the manufacturing sector,” said Ayyappan.
 
 LNG is methane converted temporarily into a liquid form for easy storage and transportation.