In Fuzhou, the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, plans are underway to build 60 liquefied-compressed natural gas (L-CNG) filling stations, radiating out to cover the Fuzhou area to meet the fuelling requirements of city buses, taxis and municipal fleets. 37 stations are expected to be completed in 2012, of which 12 will be built on high volume highways, for which 180,000 m3 has been allocated.
Under the control of the Communication and Transportation Association, a government body, the first LNG station in Fujian Province was constructed by the Minneng Gas company to service 80 natural gas vehicles (NGVs). Today, more than 600 vehicles visit daily for refuelling. Prior to this year five other filling stations had already been built along highways, but cannot meet the rapidly increasing demand, in large part stimulated by rises in oil prices.
Fujian’s only liquefied natural gas supplier, Fujian Fujian Province Gas Company Limited, plans to further expand the Fujian LNG vehicle and gas market, aiming to have 170 NGV filling stations operational province-wide by 2015, bringing the total gas requirement to over 640,000 m3.
Gas for the project is coming from Indonesia’s Tangguh gas field – a 25-year 2.6 million tons per year gas source.
The Auto Industry Development Institute (AIDI) of China and the Automotive Technology & Research Center (CATARC) have also reported on the first phase of the project, saying the LNG receiving station of Fujian Province, set up to handle the gas requirement, will become one of China’s leading LNG receiving stations. This project was listed as the key civil project of Year 2011 by Fujian Provincial Government.
Elsewhere in Fujian, the city of Shaowu has recently introduced 30 LNG-fueled buses to run on the urban trunk roads for public transit service. To better control the vehicle emissions and noise, it is the first fleet of LNG buses seen in the north of Fujian Province. According to the AIDI-CATARC report, all the buses are made by Kinglong Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co., Ltd. with a length of 9.3m.
