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The International Rally BLUE CORRIDOR – GAS INTO ENGINES 2019 that had started on August 29 in Turkey, triumphantly came to finish on October 3 at St. Petersburg International Gas Forum.

On September 20 at Lubmin (Germany) via a video link, participants of the Russian stage of the race took over from the European-stage crews that had travelled 5,320 kilometers from Istanbul  to Lubmin between August 29 and September 20.

The Russian section of the race began at the Russkaya Compressor Station (the Krasnodar Territory), the start point of the TurkStream, and followed to the start point of the Nord Stream-2 at the south coast of the Gulf of Finland not far from Ust Luga. The Russian section of the race was 2,760 kilometers long. In 10 days, the participants drove across the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov, Voronezh, Belgorod, Moscow, Novgorod and Leningrad Regions. Fueling the vehicles with natural gas was, in particular, provided at 13 CNG filling stations.

The European route started at Istanbul, and then via the Balkans it took the participants to Italy, Belgium, Austria, and Germany.

The finish ceremony of the BLUE CORRIDOR – GAS INTO ENGINES 2019 Rally was participated by Victor Zubkov, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Gazprom; Uwe Fip, Senior Vice President Gas Supply & Origination, Uniper SE; Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Committee, Gazprom; Vyacheslav Mikhalenko, Member of the Management Committee, Gazprom; Oleg Melekhin, CEO, Gazprom Gas-Engine Fuel.

The rally finishing ceremony started with presentation of the participants – the vehicles that travelled along the Russian part of BLUE CORRIDOR using compressed natural gas. The list was rather patriotic: compact LADA Vesta, bi-fuel minivan LADA Largus, cargo GASon NEXT, and bus  Lotos. The German Volkswagen took part in the Rally over Russia to emphasize cooperation of Germany and Uniper SE under the project BLUE CORRIDOR – GAS INTO ENGINES.

Victor Zubkov, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Gazprom, remarked that “natural gas is the best engine fuel.” He added that in the past 4 years, Gazprom built 86 gas fuelling stations, and by the end of 2019 another 43 facilities were going to be completed.

Uwe Fip, Senior Vice President Gas Supply & Origination, Uniper SE congratulated the crews on finishing and said that he believes, compressed natural gas is especially suitable for light vehicles.

 

Reference

For the 1^st time, the International Rally BLUE CORRIDOR was arranged in 2008 by Gazprom Group. In 2010, Uniper SE joined the project as a co-organizer. Later, other participants of the European and Russian gas and car markets pitched in.

During the existence time of the project, it was participated by a total of 200+ factory-made gas vehicles using compressed and liquefied natural gas. They drove 60+ thousand kilometers across Europe and Asia, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific.

Uniper SE is an energy company focusing on natural gas, electric energy production and global energy trade.