Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry and Chairman & Managing Director of Qatar Petroleum (QP), inaugurated a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station in the New Industrial Area in Doha.
The station has been designed and built by QP as a pilot project and is part of the feasibility study of using CNG as an alternative fuel for road transport in Qatar.
QP and Mowasalat signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in April 2012 in order to jointly evaluate the feasibility of introducing CNG to fuel public transport vehicles. Two buses were specially acquired and deployed by Mowasalat for the purpose as part of the CNG pilot scheme and more buses and taxis will follow in the near future.
The pilot facility was built in a record time of less than three months and in accordance with the highest international safety and environmental standards.
CNG is considered a green fuel as it emits virtually no particulate matter (soot), and significantly reduced amounts of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxides, all of which are harmful to human health or contribute to global warming.
The use of natural gas in transportation has seen a huge growth in recent years as governments, local authorities and public transport companies are looking to substitute diesel and gasoline with more environmentally friendly fuels to reduce harmful emissions and improve air quality. CNG buses and taxis are increasingly popular with urban transportation planners and environmental organizations in many parts of the world, where their number is growing very rapidly.
H.E. Dr. Al-Sada stated: “We are delighted at the successful completion and commissioning of this facility that will contribute not only to make our clean gas resources available to satisfy our growing domestic fuel needs but also to expand the areas of application of natural gas to the transportation sector where its safety, burning qualities and environmental advantages make it a sustainable and effective alternative to petroleum refined products.”
H.E. the Minister added: “It is very significant that this inauguration comes in implementation of the directives issued by His Highness the Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, emphasizing the importance of developing CNG as a fuel for transportation in Qatar. We are very proud to present this facility as our first contribution towards achieving these objectives. ”
The pilot facility will be operated by Woqod. QP, in association with Mowasalat and Woqod, will ensure that the experience gained from this pilot project will serve as basis for expanding the CNG network to cover the whole country and to rapidly extend its use to other categories of fleets and vehicles in Qatar.
[mappress] LNG World News Staff, November 26, 2012; Image: QP