Early in April, a meeting between Viktor Zubkov, Chairman of the Gazprom Board of Directors, Pierre Lahutte, Brand President of Iveco, and Mariarosa Baroni, President of NGV Italy, took place in Turin to discuss the Natural Gas Vehicle (NGV) market. Extensive attention was paid to the potential of cooperative efforts in expanding the use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel.
The meeting was also attended by Sergey Razov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Italian Republic, and Mikhail Likhachev, Director General of Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo (Gazprom’s natural gas automotive fuel division).
“The use of natural gas is the most efficient and affordable way of reducing harmful emissions in the transport sector. At the Gazprom Group, we pay great attention to that line of work. We are convinced that methane is the key to eco-friendly transportation on a mass scale,” said Viktor Zubkov.
He went on to acknowledge Italy as the “largest consumer of natural gas as a vehicle fuel in Europe. That can largely be attributed to comprehensive public support measures, including direct subsidies for converting motor vehicles to natural gas, as well as tax and other benefits, right down to free parking. I think that this experience can be put to use in our country.”
In 2017, Gazprom delivered 23.8 billion cubic meters of gas to Italy.
Italy’s NGV refueling network includes some 1,200 units, with upward of 1 million NGVs across the country.
NGV Italy is an affiliated association of NGV Global.
Source: Gazprom
