The opening ceremony of the first compressed natural gas filling station (CNGFS) for refilling of motor vehicles with compressed methane took place in Aktobe. The project was implemented by the National Operator of KazTransGasJSC within the framework of the Program on Transferring Motor Vehicles to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in Aktobe Region.
The agreement on cooperation with regard to implementation of this project was signed in 2015 between the Mayor’s Administration of Aktyubinsk Region and KazTransGas JSC.
The National Gas Operator is doing a big job in regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan within the framework of the "Concept for Transition of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Green Economy", approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan on May 30, 2013.
The purpose of this document is environmental improvement by transferring motor vehicles to a more environmentally friendly and efficient fuel such as gasoline or diesel.
The subsidiary of KazTransGas JSC, KazTransGas Onimderi LLP assumed the unified operator to implement the CNGFSproject on the territory of Aktobe Region due its experience of construction and operation and maintenance of CNGFS.
Among the main consumers of compressed gas are bus fleets, private passenger transport, freight and passenger vehicles of regional subsidiaries of KazTransGas JSC, as well as general public vehicles. The Operator KazTransGas Onimderi LLP has built stations by integrating new vehicles running on compressed natural gas in the bus fleet.
As the Mayor of Aktobe City Ilyas Ispanov noted, this project take on enormous importance in cooperation of the gas company and the city authorities: “The KazTransGas Onimderi Company has built a station on a land plot allocated by the city administration," said Ilyas Ispanov. - The city administration purchases buses according to the agreement signed. All this is aimed at addressing several issues such asenvironmental protection, pricing, and availability of fuel. In addition, this allows ensuring reliable passenger traffic flowand improvingterms of transportation. In the future, we will continue to build in the city such modern and safefilling stations to maintain stable prices.”
At the initial stage 50 buses will be serviced in Aktobe, next year the number of buses is planned to be increased to 200 units. In addition, the gas filling station can fill up to 400 vehicles per day. In the future, another 6 CNG filling stations will be built in the region until 2022. The compressed natural gas filling stations will provide fuel for not only the regional public bus fleet, but also motor vehicles passing through the "Western Europe-Western China" Transit Corridor towards Orenburg and Uralsk with access to Samara.
This corresponds to the instructions of the Head of State to develop a full transportation infrastructure of the "Western Europe - Western China" Transcontinental Corridor passing through the territory of Kazakhstan.
For information: The Memorandum of Cooperation aimed atdeveloping gas filling infrastructure in the border areas and along the "Western Europe-Western China" Transit Corridor was signed between KazTransGas JSC and Gazprom Gazomotornoye ToplivoLLC in February 2014. Also, a long-term plan for the development of a network of automobile gas filling compressor stations in the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2022 has been developed. It is planned to construct 7 stations of various capacityin Aktobe Region taking into account the gasification time of this region. As of today, 6 automobile gas filling compressor stations belonging to KazTransGas Onimderi LLPoperate in the country. Gas compressed to a pressure of 200-250 bar (196-245 kg / cm2)at the compressor station is used as a motor fuel in internal combustion engines. To date, liquefied petroleum (propane-butane mixture) is often used rather than compressed natural gas (methane) in Kazakhstan as motor fuel. It is stored in cylinders in a liquefied form at a pressure of 16 atm. This mixture is considered more "dirty" and dangerous to use fuel, compared to compressed natural gas. In addition, liquefied gas is not used for heavy vehicles due to loss of engine power up to 30%.
