BlueCorridor Media Guide 2014

8/10/2019 BlueCorridor Media Guide 2014

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Visit us online at bluecorridor.org


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8th

BLUE CORRIDOR

RALLY7-31 October 2014

MEDIA GUIDE


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From 7 to 31 October 2014, Blue Corridor supporters from Gazprom and E.ON will drive a

caravan of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) from St. Petersburg, Russia around the Balc states withstops in Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croaa, Serbia, Hungary,and Belarus to demonstrate the benets of using natural gas in transportaon.

We hope you can join us along the 6,600 kilometre route for roundtable discussions with

industry representaves, policy-makers, environmentalists and car enthusiasts to learn aboutthe benets of natural gas in transportaon as an environmentally-friendly and safe alternaveto petrol. These events will also provide the opportunity to check out NGVs on display and to

tour an NGV factory.

For updates from the road, head to Blue Corridors social media properes:

Website: bluecorridor.org Twier: twier.com/BlueCorridor

Read on for further details about the 2014 Blue Corridor NGV Rally, the benets of natural gasand how NGVs are changing the future of transportaon.

We look forward to seeing you!

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Welcome to the 8thBlue Corridor

Natural Gas Vehicle Rally!

Media contact: [email protected]

Organised by

Supported by


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Gazprom and E.ON, supported by a number of other natural

gas companies, vehicle manufacturers, and NGV associaons,will drive the 8th Blue Corridor Rally across Europe to showcasethe benets of natural gas as a vehicle fuel.

Round-table expert discussions will be held in Tartu, Riga,Vilnius, Poznan, Plzen, Nuremberg, Milan, Ljubljana, Zagreb,Belgrade, Novy Sad, Budapest, Minsk, and Moscow whererepresentaves of the gas and car industries, policians,ecologists, and motor fans will be able to share their views onthe various aspects of the developing NGV market in Europe.The events will put the spotlight on Europes move towardscleaner, safer, and more aordable mobility, focusing onthe advantages of natural gas in on-land and sea transportincluding recommendaons for the future.

Now on its 8th tour, the rally was developed to encourage thefurther expansion of the natural gas fuelling infrastructureneeded to create natural gas highways or blue corridors across Europe. This infrastructure would empower drivers andeet owners to purchase NGVs by ensuring that they can drivethem anywhere.

Since the Blue Corridor Rallys incepon, the use of naturalgas in transportaon has grown signicantly. When the rstrally was held in 2008, there were 9.5 million NGVs around theworld. This number has more than doubled to over 20 millionin 2014, with roughly 8% (1.67 million) of those vehicles drivingon European roads. Last year, the global NGV eet consumedwell over 30bcm of gas.

According to the European Automobile ManufacturersAssociaon (ACEA), the number of manufactured cars inEurope has been decreasing for six years in a row. However,the number of manufactured CNG vehicles in Europe has

connuously increased over the same period. According to

the Internaonal Gas Union (IGU), 50 million NGVs could beon the road worldwide by 2020, by 2030 this could be up to100 million NGVs. Yet, the need to further expand the marketremains.

Increasing the number of NGVs on the road in Europe couldbenet the region for several reasons:

Natural Gas is Clean: Driving NGVs benets theenvironment because natural gas-powered engines emit25% less CO2 compared to petrol. Therefore, increasing thenumber of NGVs in Europe would help reaching the EUstarget of 95 grams of CO2 per kilometre as the averagelevel of emissions for the new car eet by 2020.

Natural Gas is Aordable: Natural gas is the cheapest fuel. Itallows drivers to save at least 30% on fuel costs compared todiesel or petrol. In the current economic climate, this kind ofsavings could have a monumental impact. One can drive anOpel Zara Tourer NGV for 201 kilometres paying only 10 onnatural gas. For this money a similar vehicle can travel 169 kmon LPG, 148 km on diesel, and only 97 km on petrol.

Natural Gas is Safe: Natural gas is proven to be thesafest transportaon fuel worldwide. Compared to othertransportaon fuels natural gas needs higher temperatures andconcentraons to ignite.

Natural Gas is Abundant: According to the IGU, current naturalgas reserves will last for at least another 250 years, whereas

those of convenonal oil may last only 80 100 years. Bothcompressed natural gas (CNG) and liqueed natural gas (LNG)can be used in on-road and high horse-power vehicles, raillocomoves, and marine ships almost anywhere in the world.

The Blue Corridor Rally: Encouraging Natural Gasas a Transportation Fuel for Europe

Photo Caption: Gazprom supports NGV development around the world.


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Gazprom believes that natural gas has a unique blend of undisputable advantages over other

transportaon fuels. As the worlds largest natural gas producer, we are working to reliably supplynatural gas to consumers, eet owners, and municipalies because we recognise the environmental,social, business, and economic benets of developing this market.

Gazprom has iniaves underway to expand natural gas infrastructure and promote the use of NGVsin Russia and beyond. Gazprom Export the companys global trading arm coordinates corporateNGV acvies of over 40 dierent Gazproms aliates in almost all parts of our planet.

This is why Gazprom is supporng the Blue Corridor Rally, forming partnerships with car companies,environmental organisaons, energy majors, and foreign governments around the world to bolster

the future of natural gas.

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Gazproms Vision for Natural

Gas in Transport

Photo capon: Blue Corridor Rally 2013



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RUSSIA St. Petersburg, Moscow

The NGV market in Russia is developing. There areabout 90,000 NGVs and 256 lling staons across the country. TheRussian authories are commied to further expanding the NGVmarket. In May 2013, Russia adopted natural gas transport fuel

targets for 2020 aimed at promong the use of gas as a fuel for roadand public transport. In order to strongly boost the NGV market, the

Russian authories proposed to extend an ocial programme toprocure NGVs and to suspend the transportaon tax for gas vehicles.By 2020 50% of municipal buses, 30% of communal trucks and 20% of

agricultural machines will use natural gas instead of diesel. Gazprom

has recently announced it had aunched cooperaon programmesto develop NGVs with several Russian automakers including KAMAZ,

Avtovaz and Gaz Group. Major Russian oil companies such as Gazprom

Ne and Rosne have also developed programmes to build naturalgas lling staons in the country, contribung to the steady growth inthe Russia NGV market in the near future. The dedicated company -Gazprom gas engine fuel LLC- has been established to develop naonal

CNG and LNG lling infrastructure.

ESTONIA Tartu

The Estonian eet currently has 194 NGVs, up 82% from 2011. Thereare four refuelling staons in Estonia, all operated by naonal gasprovider Ees Gaas A.S. The newest staon opened in Prnu in March2013 and plans to build 2 new refuelling staons are underway.Addionally, the Tartu City Administraon recently introduced ve CNGbuses to its eet. For now, there are no LNG storage facilies in Estonia.However, the constucon of the rst LNG terminal has been approved.

Latvia Riga

While there were over 500 NGVs in 2008, Latvia currently has one ofthe smallest NGV eets in Europe, with over 20 NGVs, accompaniedby one xed and one mobile refuelling staon. Follozing EU strategy,Latvian policians and transport managers began invesgang thetransion from oil to CNG and LNG.

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2014 Blue Corridor NGV Rally Stops


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LITHUANIA Vilnius

Lithuanias NGV market is gradually

developing. The country built its

rst NGV refuelling staon in 2008 and currentlyhas four refuelling staons providing service for200 NGVs. Lithuanian cies, including the capitalof Vilnius, as well as Kaunas and Klaipeda, are

expanding their eets with gas-fuelled vehicles suchas buses.

POLAND Warsaw,Poznan, Lublin

Poland has a growing NGV market, with 3,392

NGVs and 47 refuelling staons. Poland was the

rst European country to test LNG-fuelled busesin 2012 in Warsaw and other cies, showinggreat interest in the technology, resulng in dealsfor purchase of LNG-fuelled buses for Olsztyn andWarsaw in 2013. A lack of government incenvesto invest in or adapt NGVs as well as missing

refuelling staons pose a challenge for Poland.For that reason, large eet operators invesng inNGVs tend to do so only in partnership with large

gas suppliers. The biggest CNG-fuelled bus eet inPoland belongs to MPK Rzeszow, one of the rstoperators to convert their eet, in cooperaonwith PGNiG. MPK Rzeszow is currently planning

to introduce more NGVs, substanally increasing

the share of NGVs in its eet, which is currentlyat 20%. Moreover, PGNiG, the Czech Gas

Associaon, other gas companies, and tradeorganisaons from Poland and the CzechRepublic have agreed to develop a green line

between Wroclaw, in South-Western Poland, andPrague with natural gas-fuelled buses. PGNiG isalso planning to build a natural gas terminal near

Gdansk by 2013.

The Czech Republic is certain to be a rapidlydeveloping NGV market. There are already 53

public CNG lling staons in operaon (March2014) and more than 7,000 natural gas vehicles.

At least 45 new fuelling sites will be in service

by the end of 2014; E.ON plans to open 12 14 lling staons, Vemex at least 10, Vtkoviceintends to build more than 20, and RWE plans

to open three. Within three years nearly 90

CNG lling staons will be opened in the CzechRepublic.

Czech transport companies tend to opt for

CNG buses, as this saves them tens of millions

of Czech Koruna (CZK) per year. The Czech

Environment Ministry announced a large

subsidy totalling 1 billion CZK desned for threeCzech regions to replace the oldest buses with

a new environmentally-friendly CNG eet. This

subsidy also supports the construcon of newCNG lling staons. The Czech Gas Associaonwelcomes this subsidy, which will cover up to

85% of the actual price.

The number of registered CNG vehicles is on

the increase here too. NGVs are bought by

important 3.Czech companies such as eskpota (Czech Post), Hasisk zchrann sbory(Czech Fire Service) and the Mstsk Policie(Municipal Police), while other rms buy CNG

fork-li trucks for their warehouses, etc.

GERMANY Nuremberg

With more than 900 natural gas staons andaround 96,000 gas-powered vehicles in 2014,Germany is one of the most advanced countries in

Europe regarding natural gas mobility development.

However, the market is far from reaching maturity,as NGVs account for only 0.3% of the enre car eet.

According to the German Energy Agency (DENA),

the demand for natural gas as a transport fuel has

increased by 60% in the rst half of 2013 comparedto the previous year and is expected to connue

growing. The Iniave for Natural-Gas-BasedMobility (Iniave Erdgasmobilitt), coordinatedby both the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building

and Urban Development (BMVBS) and the GermanEnergy Agency, has set an ambious target of 1.4million NGVs and 550,000 commercial vehicles

by 2020. The iniave brings together vehiclemanufacturers, such as Daimler and Opel, llingstaons operators (BP, Shell), gas producers(Gazprom Germania), and vehicle customers

associaons.

To meet this challenge, German car manufacturers

have announced the expansion oheir car eet.

Mercedes-Benz currently oers two CNG passengercar models and aims to increase its oer, VW willexpand its porolio with the introducon of thenew Golf VII, and Audi will also enter the market by

launching the A4 in 2014. The number of natural

gas lling staons will rise from the current 920 to1,300 by 2020. Last but not least, the number of

new innovave mobility projects is rising, especiallyin the public transportaon sector, with more than100 German cies operang 1,500 natural gas-fuelled buses.

CZECH REPUBLIC Plzen


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Austria is an established market for NGVs. In June 2013 the numberof NGVs in Austria stood at 7,717. There are 205 refuelling staons inAustria, 175 of which are public. In 2013 1,000 new CNG cars were

registered in Austria. Austria is currently the absolute champion in

terms of the number of CNG lling staons compared to the size of thecountry, therewith oering the best CNG coverage in Europe. CNG carsare subject to reduced tax on new cars. At present, pure biomethaneis available at three out of 180 natural gas lling staons. Overall,biomethane currently accounts for about 3% of the total methane used

in Austrian NGVs. There is currently no LNG supplied to the Austrian

market.

Italy stands as the dominant NGV naon in Europe and the seventhlargest by vehicle numbers worldwide. The total number of NGVs in

July 2013 stood at 823,000 amounng to more than 4% of the globalNGV eet. There are 1022 refuelling staons in Italy, 967 of whichare public. In 2013 the number of registered CNG vehicles in Italy

increased by 29% compared to 2012. CNG vehicles in Italy are widely

used in cargo transportaon, waste collecon, and school transport.In April 2014 Eni opened the rst LNG refuelling staon for heavy dutyvehicles in Piacenza. Italy shows also enormous potenal in converngshing boats, yachts, and passenger ferries to LNG-fuelled vehicles

While the Slovenian NGV market is sll in its infancy, in June 2013 therewere 48 registered CNG vehicles in Slovenia, including 20 buses. Thereare six refuelling staons in Slovenia. In May 2014 Chairman of theGazprom Management Commiee Alexey Miller and CEO of Slovenianautomaon, communicaons and power generaon company ComitaDanilo Durakovic discussed the possibility of seng up a joint ventureaimed at comprehensively developing the natural gas vehicle sector.

Croaa is an emerging NGV market with 155 NGVs as of May 2013. 71gas-fuelled buses drive on the roads of the country. There are only tworefuelling staons in Croaa, both are public.

In September 2013 Gazprom and state-owned LNG Croaa, signed aRoadmap to implement projects for natural gas use as a vehicle fuel inthe Republic of Croaa. The document denes the priority acon planfor Gazprom to cooperate with Croaan transportaon companies andlogisc operators as part of the pilot projects for municipal bus eetsconversion in Croaa.

Serbias NGV market nds itself in a relavely early stage, but isgradually developing. The Serbian eet currently has about 840 NGVsand nine refuelling staons.

In 2012 the country took its rst steps towards a fuel-ecientpublic transportaon. In an eort to comply with EU policies onimproving energy eciency, the government started to subsidise themanufacturer Vulovic Transport (Kragujevac), which has secured acontract to supply 32 buses.

Hungary is an established NGV market with more than 4,000 carsrunning on natural gas and 18 refuelling staons. In December 2011the Hungarian government introduced its Green Investment Schemetotalling 260 million HUF (approximately 877,109) to reduce CO2emissions. This iniave provides public funding for CNG busses,investments in the CNG infrastructure and reduces registraon taxesfor NGVs, boosng the role of CNG eets in public transport.

This year the municipality of Budapest acquired 60 Iveco natural gastrucks for waste operaons.

This marks an extremely important step forward for natural gas-powered vehicles in Hungary and Budapest. The Iveco Straliscomplying with Euro VI emission requirements will reduce both air andnoise polluon in the city.

With 4,600 natural gas vehicles and 42 CNG lling staons Belarus isconsidered to be a growing NGV market with good prospects. Alongwith Belarusian state authories Gazprom is invesng in the expansionof the Belarusian NGV market through its subsidiary Beltransgas. Asit does in Russia, Gazprom plans to implement a programme aimedat increasing CNG sales, building facilies to manufacture natural gas-powered vehicles and expanding the fuelling network. Beltransgaz runsa network of 26 CNG refuelling staons with capacity of 9,000 llingsper day or 165 million cubic meters of natural gas per year.

AUSTRIA - Innsbruck

ITALY - Milan

SLOVENIA Ljubljana

CROATIA Zagreb

SERBIA - Belgrade

HUNGARY - Budapest

BELARUS - Minsk


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Natural gas has a bright future in the transportaon sector, considering the exponenal growth acrossthe globe over the past 15 years.

The Internaonal Energy Agencys (IEA) June 2013 Medium-Term Gas Market Report predicts natural gaswill emerge as a key transportaon fuel in the next ve years, building on the more than 17 million NGVscurrently in use around the world.

Gas demand in transportaon grew tenfold between 2000 and 2010, and the IEA report foresees that by2018, gas use in the road and marime transport sector could increase by nearly 10% to 50bcm.

A few countries are leading the way in clean NGV growth, helped by smart government subsidies andlow fuel prices. Numbers in parentheses represent the amount of NGVs in each country in 2011, andhave risen since: Iran (3.5 million), China (3.33 million), Pakistan (2.8 million), Argenna (2.4 million),Brazil (1.8 million), and India (1.8 million). Among Europes leaders are Italy (823,000), Ukraine (170,000),and Germany (100,000).

Natural gas has a wide array of economic and environmental benets for the corporate sectorwhen used in transport. To reach the EUs 2050 environmental commitments in a highly cost-eecve manner, the region could increase its use of natural gas in transport.

In Europe alone, 68 to 77 billion can be saved by 2050 when further developing the use ofnatural gas in transport compared to a business as usual scenario.

Most savings, between 58 and 67 billion, can be generated before 2030.

Trucks and ships have the greatest potenal to generate cost savings.

Furthermore, approximately 280,000 people contribute to the EU economy today through theirjobs in the natural gas industry. The development of gas in transport could drive this gure up.

NGVs also benet consumers. Even considering the relavely higher purchase costs, NGVs aremore aordable than convenonal vehicles in the long run. Depending where you are, natural gasprices can be up to 50% lower than diesel fuel, and will likely connue to stay that low as gas supplygrows.

Future of Natural Gas in Transport

Economic Benefits

s NaturalGas Clean?

atural gas engines

mit approximately 25

ercent less CO2, 80

ercent less CO, a third

ss NOx and almost

o soot or parculateaer, compared to those

nning on tradional

ansport fuels.



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Photo Caption: Parcipants from Gazprom during the Blue Corridor 2012 NGV Rally's stop in Paris.

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Natural gas is a clean and safe energy source. Increasing theshare of gas in the EU energy mix by only 1% will reduce theemissions by 3%.

Specically, natural gas is one of the cleaner alternaves topetroleum in transportaon. Compared to diesel or petrol:

Gas reduces carbon CO2emissions by 25%

Gas cuts carbon CO emissions by 80%

Gas emits a third less NOx emissions, a far-more potentglobal warming gas than carbon dioxide

LNG can play a crucial role in heavy-duty truck transport or inthe marime shipping sector. Its high energy content and drivingrange between 500 and 1,000km on road in one tank arebest suited to replace oil in these sectors. Gas as a motor fuelholds great prospects in reducing GHG emissions in short-sea shipping in parcular, which represents a major part ofEuropean shipping.

A Det Norske Veritas (DNV GL), internanal classicaonagency, report found an LNG-powered crude oil tanker woulduse 25% less energy and emit 34% less carbon dioxide than aconvenonally-fuelled one.

Environmental Benefits of Natural Gas

Photo capon: Blue CorridorRally 2013, Germany

Photo capon: Blue CorridorRally 2011, Russia


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What is Liquified Petroleum Gas?Liqueed petroleum gas (LPG) is another well-known gas fuel. This should not be confusedwith natural gasLPG is a by-product of oil, chemically consisng of propane and butane, anddiers in physical features from natural gas. In contrast to methane, LPG is heavier than air andcreates more CO2 emissions. Although it is in some way easier to store and to convert engines

to it, it performs poorer from the environmental and security view.

What is Liquified Natural Gas?LNG is natural gas that is transformed from its regular gaseous state into a liquid by cooling itto approximately -162 Celsius/-260 Fahrenheit at normal air pressure. Its liquid state is veryspace-eecveit only takes up about 1/600 the volume of gaseous natural gasallowing it toeciently t inside a fuel tank.

LNG is safeparcularly in comparison to other vehicle fuelsbecause it is odourless, non-toxic,non-corrosive and less dense than water. Unlike petroleum-based fuels, LNG disperses quickly inthe event of a spill, making it less dangerous to the environment.

What is Compressed Natural Gas?To make CNG, natural gas is compressed at a rate of 3,600 pounds per square inch and then

stored. The resulng product is odourless, nontoxic, inammable and lighter than air.

CNG is more oen used for NGVs than LNG because it is less expensive to produce and storethan LNG. However, CNG has a greater mass than LNG, so NGVs running on CNG requirelarger fuel tanks and must be refuelled more frequently than their LNG counterparts. CNGis therefore a good opon for vehicles that drive round trips and can be refuelled daily, likepassenger cars, eet vehicles and public transportaon buses.


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The very rst praccally applicable (commercial) internalcombuson engine was designed and built in 1858 - 1860 byBelgian engineer Eenne Lenoir. The engine used a mixture ofcoal gas (methane) and air.

Although natural gas has been recognised as a basic source ofheat and energy for centuries, its use in transportaon is relavelyrecent. In the 1930s, natural gas and manufactured gas wereused in motor vehicles for mulple purposes. However, crude oilexpansion aer World War II drove its use down and it stayed thatway for decades.

This is no longer the case, as NGVs are experiencing a substanalhike in popularity. As stated above, a number of factors have led

to the quick growth in NGVs over the past ten years, includingthe cleanliness, aordability, safety, and abundance of the fuel.All of these factors have caused forward-thinking governmentsand companies to see the economic and environmental benetsto consumers and the corporate sector and to invest in this cleanfuel.

Global NGV growth has been especially strong over the past eightyears, increasing from 4 million in 2004, to 9.5 million in 2008, tomore than 17 million in 2013. The creaon of blue corridors isplaying a large role in this vast expansion.

The idea of building blue corridors is not new. Since the earlyyears of NGV technology, many iniaves have shed light on theneed to create pioneering routes gathering gas lling staonsalong several major transport roads linking the EU and its closeEastern neighbours.

For example, the idea of a Blue Corridor Project was launched in2000 by the non-governmental Vernadsky Ecological Foundaon

in Moscow and Gazprom. It was also explored in 2003 by the UNEconomic Commission for Europe.

From the start, the objecve of these projects was to examinethe feasibility and demonstrate the necessity of establishingtransport corridors for road vehicles powered by CNG insteadof diesel or petrol because of the economic and environmentaladvantages.

The exisng Blue Corridor NGV Rally was rst organised byGazprom and NGVRUS in Russia in 2008. In 2010, E.ON Ruhrgas

joined the event and supported its expansion to Europe topromote natural gas as the most environmentally-friendly andeconomic transportaon fuel, parcularly for municipalies andgovernment eets.

On 3 October 2013 the 7th Blue Corridor Rally started in St.Petersburg, bringing together Natural Gas Vehicles produced bythe original equipment manufacturers.The rally circled the Balc

Sea, following the old Hansa League route a medieval tradeunion of seacoast cies.

For the rst me ever, the rally parcipants crossed the Balcsand went from Finland to Sweden by a ferry running on liqueednatural gas (LNG) with tradional oil fuels as back-up. This is aconcreteexample of the environmental and economic benets ofusing LNG in shipping - crucial in the heavily polluted Balc Sea.

The Scandinavian part of the rally ended in Copenhagen, fromwhere the parcipants moved on to Hamburg.

Then, following the Hansa route, a road train reached the Polishcity of Gdansk and ran across Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Thatyear the environmentally-friendly cars covered a distance of 4,000kilometres.

History of NGVs

History of the Blue Corridor Rally

The Most Recent Blue Corridor Rally

Documents

BlueCorridor Media Guide 2014