Agreements signed for increased use of natural gas in vehicles

A series of agreements on the wider use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel was signed today at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2019.

Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Rustam Minnikhanov, President of the Republic of Tatarstan, signed an Agreement on the implementation of two investment projects in the region, namely the construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex and the creation of a network of cryogenic CNG filling stations.

According to the document, the parties will draw up a roadmap with an action plan and a schedule for the synchronized construction of the LNG complex and the cryogenic CNG network (including stations planned to be built along federal highways to refuel mainline motor vehicles) by the Company, as well as the equipping of Tatarstan-based CNG stations with LNG storage and refueling units. The region’s authorities will assist Gazprom and its subsidiaries in addressing land issues and obtaining permits for the projects and will help accelerate the expansion of the LNG-powered vehicle fleet.

Additional attention will be paid to the possibility of using LNG for off-grid energy supplies and for refueling river and railway transport, agricultural and municipal vehicles in the region.

Listed below are the documents that were signed in the presence of Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee.

Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Ivan Antsev, Member of the Board of Directors of Alekseev’s Hydrofoil Design Bureau, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation.

Promoting the use of natural gas in river and maritime transport is a promising area of NGV market development. In this connection, the cooperation between Gazprom and the Design Bureau – a world leader in the research, design, construction, testing and operation of high-speed vessels – will be aimed at broadening the lineup of waterborne vessels powered by natural gas.

In line with the document, the Design Bureau intends to design, create and certify prototypes of gas-powered vessels, as well as to outline proposals regarding their service maintenance. Gazprom plans to build refueling infrastructure taking into account the needs of watercraft operators.

The parties also intend to cooperate in drafting proposals for federal and regional authorities regarding the facilitation of large-scale use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel in waterborne transport.

Vitaly Markelov and Mikhail Karisalov, Chairman of the Management Board, CEO of SIBUR acting on behalf of SIBUR Holding, signed an Agreement of Cooperation.

Pursuant to the document, SIBUR Holding will examine the possibility of converting its motor vehicles to natural gas. In its efforts to develop the NGV refueling infrastructure, Gazprom will take into consideration the potential gas demand of the SIBUR Group.

Oleg Melekhin, Director General of Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo, and Andrey Zheregelya, Director General of United Rocket and Space Corporation, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to advance domestic technologies for the expansion of NGV refueling infrastructure.

The parties to the Agreement will cooperate in setting up NGV refueling infrastructure using domestic technologies, as well as in designing core process equipment with the involvement of organizations in the space sector.

Oleg Melekhin, Director General of Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo, and Alexey Fedotov, Director for Business Development at Yandex.Taxi, entered into an Agreement of Cooperation on the use of natural gas (methane) as a vehicle fuel.

At present, partners of Yandex.Taxi are using 4,300 NGVs. This number will be considerably increased as a result of collaboration between the parties. To this end, Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo will offer special terms for the installation of gas equipment and will draw up a plan for the distribution of vehicles among assembly shops.

Natural gas for vehicles will be available across Gazprom’s CNG network, which includes 310 filling units in 63 Russian regions. If necessary, Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo will consider building or locating refueling facilities in the areas where natural gas is or may be in high demand.

Alexey Kakhidze, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom LNG Technologies, and Valery Limarenko, Acting Governor of the Sakhalin Region, signed an Agreement to develop the LNG production and sales market.

Alexey Kakhidze, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom LNG Technologies, and Vyacheslav Petushenko, Chairman of the Board of the Russian Highways State Company (Avtodor), signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to expand the production and sales infrastructure for natural gas as a vehicle fuel along the backbone network of federal highways that form part of international road corridors, both existing and planned, and to set up a joint venture for that purpose.

The parties expressed their intention to unite efforts in creating gas supply and distribution infrastructure, namely to build mixed-use highway service areas, including NGV refueling facilities on existing and planned highways, and gas production facilities after setting up a special-purpose engineering company, with Gazprom LNG Technologies and Avtodor as co-founders.

Alexey Kakhidze, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom LNG Technologies, and Mikhail Skorokhod, President of EUROCEMENT Group, signed an Agreement of Cooperation on the use of LNG as a vehicle fuel.

The Agreement provides for cooperation in the development of the production and sales infrastructure for LNG as a vehicle fuel with the purpose of meeting the needs of EUROCEMENT Group regarding quarry machinery and cargo transportation.

Alexey Kakhidze, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom LNG Technologies, Georgy Chicherin, Deputy Chairman of the Board for Investment and Strategic Planning at Avtodor, and Olga Naumova, Director General of Magnit, signed an Agreement of Cooperation.