Adnoc Distribution is advancing its mission to offer alternative low-emissions fuels through its plan to construct the Arabian Gulf’s largest natural gas for vehicles (NGV) service station in Mahawi on the Abu Dhabi to Al-Ain road.

The mega station will have an hourly pumping capacity of 2,850 standard cubic metres (SCM), the highest in the region.

The new station will raise the number of NGV-enabled service stations in Abu Dhabi emirate to 31 by the end of this year. The current expansion builds on Adnoc Distribution’s opening of seven new NGV stations in Abu Dhabi in 2016,  with the total number of NGV service stations in Abu Dhabi, Al-Ain and the Western Region now totalling 28.

Abu Dhabi already has the largest number of stations servicing gas-powered vehicles in the entire Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

Adnoc Distribution’s focused marketing campaigns and successful ongoing expansion of supporting NGV infrastructure led to a 50 per cent increase in Natural Gas for Vehicles (NGV) usage in the Abu Dhabi emirate in 2016. With over 5,500 NGV-converted vehicles now being run in Abu Dhabi, this figure constitutes the highest number of such vehicles among all of the emirates of the UAE, said the statement.

NGV is an alternative vehicle fuel that uses compressed natural gas (CNG) as a cleaner alternative transportation. It can be used in all types of transportation applications including vehicles, buses, trucks, cranes, vans, and also in forklifts. Vehicles running on petrol can be converted to bi-fuel. Conversion takes six to eight hours and doesn’t require any engine modification. Bi-fuel vehicles run on NGV and petrol, stored in separate tanks. NGV is a clean, safe, economical and convenient alternative fuel, it said.

Saeed Mubarak Al Rashdi, acting chief executive officer of Adnoc Distribution, said: “Adnoc Distribution’s CNG stations are helping Abu Dhabi to reduce the carbon footprint of private, business and government vehicles while also providing customers an efficient and cost-effective solution for running their vehicles. Through our expansion of NGV network, we are playing our full part in helping the Abu Dhabi government meet its target to require 25 per cent of government vehicles to run on low-emissions CNG in line with Abu Dhabi’s Economic Vision 2030.”

The rapid expansion of Abu Dhabi’s NGV network has also been assisted by the fact that NGV prices have been held substantially lower than conventional fuels such as gasoline and diesel on energy equivalent terms.

A new pricing scheme that will come into effect from March 1 will set the tariff for NGV at Dh1.40 per SCM, compared to Dh1.32 previously. With this, the fuel cost per 100 km for a passenger car with NGV is about Dh13 as against approximately Dh19 with gasoline. - TradeArabia News Service