Engie to Invest in Gas for Transport

France's Engie (formerly GDF Suez) said on March 30 it will invest some €100mn between now and 2020 to establish new filling stations on Europe's roads to refuel trucks with LNG and compressed natural gas (CNG). It is among several utilities and producers investing to widen the market for gas.

Engie said it will invest in the building of 30 CNG stations in France and up to nearly 70 LNG filling stations in several European countries.

LNG is part of the EU's strategy to promote cleaner fuels in road, canal and sea transport. Engie says it believes LNG as a lower-carbon fuel for heavy trucks can help improve air quality. It estimates Europe-wide there are 3,000 CNG and 75 LNG filling stations and says that various operators will expand this further.

Engie will also launch a bunkering vessel to refuel ships by end-2016 in partnership with Japan's NYK and Mitsubishi Corporation at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge (home to Fluxys' LNG import terminal); is supplying LNG by truck to barges on the river Rhine; and will build a fixed LNG station both for ships and trucks in the Belgian port of Antwerp.

Skangas, Shell-owned Gasnor and German joint venture Bomin Linde count as Europe's main distributors of LNG as a ship's bunker fuel. Engie is keen to muscle into this sector, while Gazprom is lagging but has signed small-scale LNG partnerships with Dutch Gasunie and Belgian Fluxys.

Meanwhile in the Spanish capital, it should soon be easier to learn to drive with natural gas. Autoescuela Gala, a driving school, took delivery of seven CNG vehicles on March 30 – the first to be used by learner-drivers in the country, and with more to be added – following a partnership with Spanish utility Gas Natural with support from Madrid city council.

Mark Smedley