Cooperation between Gazprom and KAMAZ successfully developing
RELEASE
Release
The Gazprom headquarters hosted today a working meeting between Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Company's Management Committee and Sergey Kogogin, Director General of KAMAZ.
The parties discussed the current issues of cooperation. A focus was placed on the market expansion for gas as a vehicle fuel. The companies coordinate their efforts in converting vehicles to run on compressed natural gas and in promoting NGV warranty and maintenance service arrangements.
KAMAZ regularly provides information on the number of gas-powered vehicles produced and the regions of their supply. Gazprom takes this data into account when preparing plans on commissioning new CNG filling stations. KAMAZ is in turn timely provided with the information on the construction and location of new CNG stations.
Special attention was given to the participation of KAMAZ in a program for expanding the Gazprom Group NGV fleet until 2017. Between 2014 and 2015 Gazprom subsidiaries purchased 1,066 gas vehicles produced by KAMAZ. This cooperation will continue, inter alia, in developing gas filling infrastructure through increasing the number of mobile NGV refueling stations.
Alexey Miller and Sergey Kogogin discussed the performance of a gas-powered KAMAZ truck within the KAMAZ-Master team in Africa Eco Race 2016. It was noted that the success achieved by this truck in the abovementioned and other prestigious international competitions clearly demonstrated reliability, efficiency and safety in using natural gas as a vehicle fuel. In July the gas-powered KAMAZ truck will participate in the Silk Way Rally 2016, the Moscow-Beijing route covering over 10 thousand kilometers.
Background
Gazprom works extensively to develop the Russian natural gas vehicle (NGV) market. In particular, Gazprom and major car producers have reached agreements over including NGV models into their vehicle ranges.
In June 2015 Gazprom and KAMAZ inked the Agreement on strategic cooperation in promoting the use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel.
KAMAZ is the largest truck-manufacturing corporation in Russia. Currently, the company is implementing the program of designing and manufacturing gas-powered trucks. KAMAZ actively participates in state programs aimed to develop the NGV market.
In April 2015 KAMAZ opened a production line for gas vehicles in Naberezhnye Chelny. This line may produce up to eight thousand vehicles of 50 different models per year.
The gas-powered KAMAZ truck is a special model of a sports truck running on natural gas. This car was produced by the KAMAZ-Master team in 2013 with the support of Gazprom and VTB Bank. The objective of the project is to demonstrate the opportunities in using natural gas as a vehicle fuel in tough conditions of marathon rallies.
From December 27, 2015 to January 10, 2016 the gas-powered KAMAZ truck took part in Africa Eco Race 2016. During this international rally the truck was refueled with natural gas by a mobile station of Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo.
Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo is the single NGV market operator representing Gazprom. The company was set up in December 2012. The company's goal is to expand the use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel, which is more eco-friendly, cost-effective and safe compared to conventional fuels.