National Petroleum News (NPN) has been the independent voice of the petroleum industry since 1909 as the opposition to Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. So, motor fuels marketing and retail is not just a sideline for us, it’s our core competency.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/116555
MARKETING & SUPPLY BY DEBraRESchkE-Schug The natural gas transportation industry provides fleets more fueling options mOBIlE FuElINg AND NATuRAl gAS T he Oil and energy industry is all abuZZ over natural gas. In the last few months, both compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) have taken center stage in messages sent out by agencies and organizations like the American Petroleum Institute and the Energy Information Administration. New CNG and LNG offerings have been rolling out in the last year at trade shows. Moreover, the future of the fuel has been the focus of many industry seminars and conferences – such as the recent one hosted by the American Trucking Association. As noted in the NPN January/February issue, the EIA's early release overview of the Annual Energy Outlook 2013 is very heavy on natural gas projections. Growth in diesel fuel consumption is projected to be moderated due to increased use of natural gas in heavy-duty vehicles. "The improved economics of liquefied natural gas for heavy-duty vehicles results in an increase in natural gas use in heavy-duty vehicles that offsets a portion of diesel fuel consumption," according to the EIA report. "The natural gas economy has arrived," said David Hill, the vice president of operations for Encana Natural Gas, a North American energy producer committed to commercially developing natural gas for transportation. He said they are hearing from fleets that are being told they need to look at natural gas as an option, which he believes is a good thing, not just for the industry, but for the country. "This is good for North America because this is a North American fuel," Hill said. But what anyone involved in the natural gas transportation industry will tell you is that there is a "chicken and the egg situation" going on right now. "With LNG, it's what's first: who's buying the truck or who's building the station," Hill said. "We realized that fleets wanted to test the technology first before making the bigger investment in converting all of their trucks." 12 March 2013 To serve this need, Encana offers a mobile fueling solution for LNG vehicles, which allows fleets to test the fueling experience with one to ten trucks. "That allows them to make a better decision," he said. It also puts the fueling equipment in a fleet's yard, but not permanently. "There's no need to put capital in a permanent structure," Hill said. The company offers packages to fleets at a cost that includes bringing the equipment in, training the drivers and providing the LNG, among other services like maintenance issues and upkeep. "We can offer that at a cost that's 20 to 30 percent lower than diesel," he said. Also, because of the mobility factor, this is a good solution for fleets that need to move around. "We had one fleet that needed to move from Louisiana to East Texas and they were able to do it because they had the mobile (fueling solution)," said Hill. The mobile fueling approach to natural gas fleets is a bit different than what companies like Clean Energy are doing, which is building stations at the fleets as well as public LNG stations. "We've built 70 (public) stations so far," said Gary Foster, Clean Energy's senior vice president of corporate communications. The company is working with Flying J to build solutions for long-haul trucks using LNG. Foster said they are building "America's Natural Gas Highway," as Clean Energy calls it, identifying key locations to fuel LNG trucks border to border. These 70 stations completed the company's first phase of cross-country infrastructure. "That's fantastic," Hill said and added that Encana's solution is complimentary to what Clean Energy is doing. "There are lots of moving parts to this," from the trucks to the stations to the fleets adopting this. "It's a whole new way to fuel," he said. In the coming months, the 11.9 liter engine will be coming out and both David Hill and Gary Foster say that's critical for the LNG market. NPN Magazine n www.npnweb.com