Gazprom to develop NGV infrastructure in Rostov Region

Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom, Viktor Zubkov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom, Chairman of the Management Committee – Director General of Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo and Vasily Golubev, Governor of the Rostov Region signed the Agreement on wider use of natural gas as a vehicle fuel.

The document is primarily focused on increasing the cost-effectiveness of transportation and mitigating adverse environmental effects. In order to achieve these targets, the parties will implement a set of measures aimed at increasing the number of passenger, public utility, road-building, agricultural and other types of vehicles running on natural gas.

The Agreement stipulates building NGV infrastructure in parallel with commissioning an NGV fleet. During a month after the Agreement signing date the parties will set up a working group to prepare the relevant schedule.

According to the schedule Gazprom will ensure the construction and subsequent operation of the NGV infrastructure. In addition, vehicles will be filled with natural gas with the use of mobile gas refueling trucks. This work will be performed by Gazprom Gazomotornoye Toplivo – a special-purpose company acting as Gazprom's authorized representative in coordinating the development of NGV markets in Russia's regions.

The Rostov Region executive authorities will ensure the construction of an NGV fleet to be used for state and local needs, provide technical equipment and arrange training of personnel employed by companies using such NGVs. The Rostov Region Government, within its authority, will assist in the preparation and adoption of laws promoting the development of the regional NGV markets.

At present, Gazprom has 11 CNG filling stations operational in the Region. By early 2015 the Company plans to build here another four CNG stations to be located in Rostov-on-Don, Azov, Shakhty and Novoshakhtinsk.