Gazprom Expands Use of Gas as Motor Fuel
Russia’s Gazprom estimates it has saved rubles 4.8bn ($75mn) since 2014 from fuelling its vehicles with natural gas rather than petroleum products, it said on September 25.
The state gas company had 11,658 gas-fuelled vehicles in service at the end of July, it said in a press release, up from a mere 4,500 at the start of 2014. More than half of Gazprom’s vehicle fleet now runs on gas, with the share set to reach 55% by the end of the year.
Gazprom also installed 86 new compressed natural gas (CNG) filling units between 2015 and 2018, and aims to build 43 more this year. The company sold 526mn m3 of gas as a motor fuel in 2017, up from 377mn m3 in 2013, according to its website.
“Natural gas is an effective tool for cutting costs in all sectors of the economy where transportation is involved, as is clearly demonstrated by the results of Gazprom’s work,” Gazprom chairman Viktor Zubkov commented.
Gazprom wants to promote the widespread use of gas in motor transport across Europe, creating an additional revenue base to its piped gas exports. So far its operations in the area are mainly confined to Russia, although it manages some CNG stations the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland. Next week sees the finish of its annual fortnight-long Blue Corridor motor rally. Starting in Istanbul and ending in St Petersburg October 3, the vehicles all run on gas.