The closing ceremony of the international Blue Corridor – Gas into Engines 2019 Rally for natural gas vehicles took place on October 3 at the 9th St. Petersburg International Gas Forum (SPIGF). The race was sponsored by Gazprom and Germany’s Uniper. The rally covered Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Germany, and Russia (including the Rostov, Voronezh, Belgorod, Moscow, Novgorod and Leningrad Regions). The participants of the European and Russian stages of the rally traveled more than 8,000 kilometers in total.
The race featured cars, trucks and buses powered by CNG and LNG, which proved the high reliability and cost-effectiveness of natural gas as a vehicle fuel. For instance, during the Russian stage of the rally, the cost of refueling vehicles with natural gas was 2 to 3.5 times lower compared to the use of conventional fuels. In addition, Gazprom’s new natural gas stations were brought into operation during the journey.
State-of-the-art CNG stations were built in Omsk and Takhtamukai (Republic of Adygea). These facilities have the annual capacity of 8.9 million cubic meters and 6.6 million cubic meters of natural gas, respectively. The Omsk site, which is the first CNG station in this city, will service primarily passenger vehicles. The filling station in Takhtamukai will be mostly used for transit transport.
Moreover, a parking area for mobile refuelers and cryogenic refueling units was set up in the Kresttsy work settlement (Novgorod Region). It can be used to refuel vehicles on the M-10 federal highway with both CNG and LNG. In 2020, the area will become a construction site for a stationary cryogenic filling station.
Source: Gazprom
