Blue Corridor 2013 motor rally starts in St. Petersburg
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The Blue Corridor 2013 motor rally of natural gas-powered cars started in St. Petersburg today.
The event was organized by E.ON (Germany), Gazprom Export and Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo with the support of the International Gas Union. Over 20 Russian and European energy, car manufacturing and transportation companies joined the rally.
Participating in the rally are factory vehicles using natural gas – methane – as a motor fuel. The main transport column consists of 8 domestic and foreign cars – buses, trucks and passenger cars. The rally participants had their first filling before the start at Gazprom Neft’s multi-fuel filling complex at 42 Pulkovskoye highway.
In the course of fifteen days the participants are to cover 3,900 kilometers. The expedition route will pass through the cities of the Russian Northwestern Federal District, namely, St. Petersburg, Vyborg and Kaliningrad as well as a number of European countries, such as Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Along the rally route round table sessions will be arranged for motor vehicle and shipping companies, fuel suppliers, marine port representatives, industry experts, state and municipal authorities and mass media.
The main advantages of NGV fuel are its eco-friendliness and efficiency. The exhaust gas of a motor vehicle running on compressed natural gas (CNG) contains 4 to 5 times less contaminants than that of a gasoline-powered vehicle. Natural gas doesn’t form sediments in a fuel system that is why the service life of a CNG-powered engine is 1.5 times longer. CNG use provides for cutting fuel costs by up to 40 per cent.
The Blue Corridor 2013 will finish in St. Petersburg on October 19.
Background
Gazprom takes sustained efforts to bring the Russian NGV market to a conceptually new level. A special-purpose company Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo was set up with a view to improve the efficiency of Gazprom's strategy for the NGV market development and was identified as a single operator for the said market development.
In order to promote the use of CNG as a motor fuel Gazprom Neft and Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo signed the Agreement regarding the installation of natural gas vehicle fueling units at Gazprom Neft's filling stations. As part of the cooperation, it is planned to develop multi-fuel filling complexes and open multi-fuel filling complexes, which allow fueling vehicles with methane in the Central and Northwestern Federal Districts, including along the M10 and M1 federal highways.
At present, there are nearly 1,300 filling stations operated by Gazprom Neft in Russia and the CIS. Today there are 4 Gazprom Neft’s filling stations in Russia, which offer the opportunity of fueling cars with methane.
Gazprom Neft is the major natural gas exporter to foreign markets. The company supplies the ‘blue fuel’ to more than 20 countries.