Manila Bulletin (Philippines): Shell to open first CNG facility: “Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. is scheduled to open today the country’s first ever compressed natural gas (CNG) mother refuelling station…”: Sunday 12 June 2005
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. is scheduled to open today the country’s first ever compressed natural gas (CNG) mother refuelling station in Tabangao, Batangas and its daughter station.
The facility is expected to benefit an initial fleet of 200 CNG-fed public utility buses.
The project is Shell’s response to clamor for cheaper alternative fuel which is also environment friendly. It means to supply public transport buses with natural gas produced by the Malampaya Deep Water Gas-to-Power project offshore under the government’s Natural Gas Vehicle Program for Public Transport (NGVPPT).
The NGVPPT was launched by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in October 2001 to enhance energy supply security in the transport sector by using natural gas as alternative fuel.
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation (Pilipinas Shell) signed a supplement to the memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Department of Energy (DoE), which finally paved the way for the offering of CNG for public utility buses. The supplement indicated the final negotiated CNG price for the first 200 buses for a period of seven years.
CNG would be available at a fixed price of R14.52 per cubic meter for the next seven years in a bid to spur the use of the alternative fuel in the transport industry.
When the CNG stations start to operate, the Malampaya natural gas will be compressed into cylinders at the CNG mother station in Tabangao, Batangas. From there, the CNG will be transported by land to the daughter retail station in Biñan, Laguna located along the northbound lane of the South Luzon Expressway.
Some 70 gas powered provincial buses which are expected to ply the Batangas-Manila and Manila-Batangas routes shall be the initial fleet of buses to be served by the CNG stations. The CNG-powered buses mark the first non-power utilization of the Malampaya natural gas.
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