This question to the experts asked by the Moderator of the International conference on prospects of the gas engine fuel market development, Eugene Pronin, Head of the Department for Sales of Petrochemistry products at Gazprom Export LLC. He continued, “In the nearest 10 to 15 years the service of converting the vehicles already in operation to gas will take a significant place in the transport sector”. The discussion on use of LNG and CNG as alternative fuel was participated by Heads and experts of the Russian and foreign companies within the sector.
Mariarosa Baroni, President of NGV Italy, represented the country that was the first to use natural gas as fuel and in 90 years has become the most successful within this sector. “It is really difficult to introduce electric transport, so natural gas is the most practical strategy for the transport sector. Every week and every month we open new fuelling stations and tell the consumers about them, and now there are about 1140 stations. Providing information to all members of the market process (from dealers to drivers) is a very important component of our strategy. Do many people in Russia realize what LNG is like?”
Grigory Shevchenko, Project Manager at Uniper company in Russia and Central Europe, spotted economical and ecological advantages of natural gas use for 360 to 400 hp cargo vehicles, “LNG consumption in kilograms is 10 to 15% lower than consumption of diesel fuel in liters. Moreover, levels of noise from engine operation are reduced by 70%, which allows to plan supply chains even for night time. Further still, there are apparent ecological advantages of LNG use – nitrogen oxide atmospheric emission is reduced by 35%, and emission of harmful particulates is reduced by 93%”.
According to Denis Kornienko, Deputy CEO of Gazprom Gas-Engine Fuel LLC, key conditions for development of the gas engine fuel market are the available vast gas fuelling infrastructure, production of sufficient scope and assortment of equipment working on natural gas, as well as promotion and comfort conditions for consumers switching to gas. “Today 304 CNG filling stations are operated in Russia, 238 of them belong to the Gazprom network, and by the year of 2020 we intend to increase this value to 685”, said Mr. Kornienko. “We’ve developed pilot projects for use of LNG as engine fuel. The main gas transport has already been started in the line “Naberezhnye Tchelny – Magnitogorsk” and along international transportation corridors in the European part of Russia. A gas locomotive is to be tested in the line Surgut-Voinovka of the Sverdlovskaya Railway. We’re also going to switch to gas mining and farm vehicles, as well as marine and river transport.
