“We will try to build the NGV station first. Then we will cooperate with other parties, such as the government, to provide conversion kits for vehicles,” said the executive, who added that Medco has an agreement with Mandiri, a small company that provides CNG in Palembang, to evaluate the fuel demand in Jakarta. “That also includes a strategy on how we can campaign for more CNG use,” Budi said.
In addition, PTT in Thailand will purchase biomethane from Universal Adsorbents & Chemicals (UAC) next year to sell it as a transportation fuel and thus reduce diesel and LPG imports. UAC will start building the biogas plant this month and it is expected to produce 6-8 tones daily, a capacity that could fill 500 compact cars or 40 trucks. The fuel will be sold at Chiang Mai province filling stations.
Moreover, Asia is also increasing its NGV fleet as Pakistan’s largest city is introducing 50 new CNG buses this month. Karachi’s transport operators have expressed interest in making 90 percent of the investment -with 10 percent subsidy from the federal government- and are expected to bring around 800 units in total, divided in three stages. Vehicles would arrive under Shaheed Benazir Bhutto CNG Bus Project and would be exempted from 15 per cent import duty.
