Petronet LNG Limited, India’s largest importer of natural gas, has declared its interest to expand LNG as a fuel for transportation in the country during a side interview at Petrotech 2016 in New Delhi this week. Aiming to drive up demand in both marine and land (heavy duty) transportation, the company says its strategy will also assist India address the daunting challenge of reducing transport-generated air pollution.
“We are in talks with all the oil marketing companies regarding the use of its retail outlets. Our aim is to have at least 150,000 LNG trucks, which would turn out to be about 0.5-1.5 million tonnes of LNG in terms of quantity,” Prabhat Singh, chief executive officer and managing director of Petronet LNG told national news service Business Standard.
Those companies reportedly include Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL).
Early last month, India’s first LNG bus was launched by the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan at Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala. Hope was expressed that the natural gas powered bus will spearhead a drive to adopt LNG fuel and reduce carbon emissions. The project is an outcome of collaboration between Petronet LNG Limited (PLL), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd and Tata Motors Ltd.
Prahbat Singh says discussions are ongoing with Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland regarding the introduction of new natural gas buses, adding that switching to LNG could potentially deliver fuel cost savings of more than 30% compared to conventional fuels.
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