Prague - Russian state-run gas giant Gazprom wants to offset a recent drop in gas exports to Europe, the Czech Republic including, by supplying the continent with liquified natural gas (LNG) to be used as transport fuel.
Gazprom will distribute LNG to the Czech market via its Czech subsidiary, Vemex. "Our task is to explore possibilities of cooperation with shippers that will use LNG cars," said Vemex marketing director Hugo Kysilka to Aktualne.cz, adding that the company will focus above all on bus, truck and railway transport. Kysilka stressed that by switching to LNG, companies that use diesel fuel will save 40 percent of their costs.
Czech KKCG, Gazprom to build giant gas storage facility
High electricity prices end CEZ's expansion to Balkans
Gas exporters also expect that the implementation of the stricter Euro 6 emission standard in 2014 will increase the demand for LNG
The Natural & Bio Gas Vehicle Association (NGVA) is another organization that plans to promote LNG in Europe, including the Czech Republic. The association will transport LNG to the country from Austria's Linz through the Danube River. The EU is considering a EUR 128 million subsidy for the project.
The biggest advantage of LNG is its driving range of 1,000 kilometers, three times more than compressed natural gas (CNG). A LNG car can allegedly get from Prague to Paris on one fill-up.
"LNG's volume is 600 times smaller than that of natural gas, CNG's volume 200 times smaller", said Zdenek Prokopec, board chairman of the Czech branch of NGVA. Prokopec admitted though that the purchase costs of LNG cars are high.
NGVA's Vesela Schauhuberova said that first it is necessary to build the LNG infrastructure across entire Europe. One of the companies that produce such infrastructure in the Czech Republic is Decin-based Cart Forex, whose director Miroslav Cerny believes that LNG will play a big role in Czech long-distance transport. "But Poland and Germany will be served first," said Cerny.
Gazprom has been producing LNG in Sakhalin Island since 2009, exporting it mostly to Japan, South Korea or China. From 2018, the same product will be exported to Asian countries also from Vladivostok.
