Nornickel opened the first methane filling station in Norilsk. It will operate in test mode for a year, and then it will service heavy machinery and Norilsk city transport.
The filling station was built by Norilsktransgaz, a subsidiary of Nornickel, which delivers natural gas and natural gas condensate to the enterprises of Nornickel’s Polar Division, industrial enterprises of the Norilsk Industrial District and the port city of Dudinka. Over the course of the year, specialists will test the station — fuelling KamAZ trucks and truck cranes. After all the tests, Nornickel plans to refuel not only industrial machinery, but also city transport.
Nornickel is converting some of its production equipment to gas motor fuel, as it is more environmentally friendly and cheaper. Over time, the fleet of such vehicles will grow, and they will need methane filling stations.
Evgeny Fedorov, Nornickel Vice President and Head of the Energy Division, commented: “Production and sale of compressed natural gas as motor fuel is a new area of Nornickel’s activities. The potential for growth of gas motor fuel consumption in the region is huge. We have substantial natural gas reserves in our licensed territory, and it is a more accessible fuel for our region than petroleum products. The use of compressed natural gas reduces the burden on the infrastructure for supplying traditional fuels. It is an environmentally friendly solution that also has a direct economic effect for our consumers”.
The construction of gas filling stations is part of the federal Clean Air Project, a Russian government programme tailored to improve the air quality in industrial cities.
The design capacity of the first filling station is 17.8 million cubic metres of natural gas per year. The station has two posts. Almost 300 cars will be able to fill up here every day.
There is a special column at the filling station capable of servicing mobile refuellers, which in turn can deliver methane to the remote tundra.
