Archive for November 2019

From 1 to 4 October 2019, GRAF S.p.A. participated for the fourth time in the 9th St. Petersburg International Gas Forum. For us it has become a good tradition. The forum was visited by over 30,000 participants from 55 countries. As part of the exhibition program, 535 companies showed their developments for the gas industry.

SPGF is a platform that unites the main players in the gas sector to exchange experiences, show new products and conclude agreements on effective interaction. The forum was attended by the top managers of the main oil and gas companies in Russia, a public JSC “Gazprom”, representatives of the international business community, the Italian national gas engine consortium, heads of research institutes, specialized universities, officials government and innovation center experts.

Gazprom is the largest Russian company, accounting for about 70% of Russia’s natural gas production and with reserves amounting to 18,991 km³ that controls 18% of the world’s known gas reserves. The production and sale of natural gas (methane) as automotive fuel is a strategic area of activity of PJSC Gazprom. For a systematic work on the development of the natural gas market for automotive transport, a specialized company – LLC Gazprom GMT was created.

Nowadays natural gas (methane) is the most economical and ecological fuel used for motor transport vehicles. Its average price in Russia is 16 rubles per 1 m3 (about 0,3 Euro). The cost per kilometer on methane for cars is 1.6 rubles. 1 m3 methane is equivalent to 1 liter of petrol.

3 years ago, the volume of fuel consumption of the gas engine in Russia did not exceed 500 million m3. The regional markets of the Rostov and Belgorod regions are developing more rapidly; in the near future, projects for the accelerated development of the CNG stations in St. Petersburg, in the Leningrad and Kaliningrad regions will begin.

From 2019 to 2021, the number of specialized service stations in each of these regions will increase to 39. At present, Russia has a wide range of natural gas vehicles, which includes 229 units. Among these, 127 passenger transport models, 36 – special equipment, 19 – commercial vehicles.

For next year Gazprom’s gas sales are estimated to be around 1 billion m3. The Ministry of Energy predicts that by 2024 the consumption of methane will exceed 3 billion m3, the number of service stations will exceed 1000 and the number of vehicles using natural gas will increase to 430 thousand units. The reasons that limit the widespread use of gas are the high cost of equipment for service stations and their allocation on the territory, as well as the lack of government incentive programs.

On October 3, 2019, at the collective stand of Gazprom GMT and Gazprom LNG Technologies, in teleconference mode, the commissioning ceremony took place of three Gazprom CNG filling stations. Viktor Zubkov, chairman of the board of Gazprom, accepted the reports of the managers confirmed not to increase the price of the sale of gas.

This year, GRAF S.p.A. had a joint stand with Russian company LLC “ATS-service”, a partner of LLC “Gazprom GMT”, with which four contracts were signed for the CNG station’s equipment supply. Meetings with existing customers were held during the fair and new business contacts were undertaken. The growing interest in our equipment for CNG and LNG and the positive prospects for activities in the Russian market must therefore be emphasized.