Developing transportation markets and a fueling infrastructure in North Texas for natural gas vehicles (NGV) is the goal of gas producers and other companies behind the newly formed Metroplex Natural Gas Vehicle Consortium.

To date, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Republic Services Inc., Chesapeake Energy Corp., XTO Energy Inc., Clean Energy Fuels Corp., EOG Resources Inc., EnCana Corp., Quicksilver Resources Inc. and North Central Texas Council of Governments have signed on. The group met for the second time earlier this month. The idea for the consortium came from an NGV symposium in June, which was co-hosted by the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council and Texas Christian University’s TCU Energy Institute.

“Putting more NGVs on the road will reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil because the U.S. has huge natural gas reserves,” said Ed Ireland, executive director of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council. “The technology exists to convert transportation fleets to cleaner-burning, cheaper and plentiful natural gas; but nevertheless, the U.S. lags far behind many other countries,” he said. About 15,000 NGVs exist in the United States, but worldwide the number is closer to eight million, according to the consortium.

Creating markets for NGVs is one of two major market-building goals of he recently formed America’s Natural Gas Alliance; the other is expanding use of gas for power generation (see Daily GPI, Sept. 8). According to Chesapeake CEO Aubrey K. McClendon, about 20% of America’s existing fueling stations, which dispense 80-85% of transportation fuel, could be retrofitted to supply natural gas for $20-25 billion, “which used to be a lot of money; today, maybe not so much.” And a 1% conversion of the country’s transportation fleet to natural gas would yield a 1% increase in natural gas demand.

Utah, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Colorado are other states with NGV initiatives under way (see Daily GPI, July 23; July 9; June 3).

Ireland said NGV emissions are 25% lower for carbon dioxide and 75% lower for nitrogen oxide than gasoline or diesel. An obstacle to expanding the use of NGVs is the lack of a natural gas fueling infrastructure in the North Texas region. Consortium members are exploring three options to solve the problem.

The first is to take advantage of existing pipeline compressor sites by setting up pull through refueling station nearby. The second option is to locate new fueling stations in clusters near existing pipelines. Thirdly, with more planning and financial initiative, the consortium envisions refueling corridors along the major arteries between Fort Worth and Dallas, ultimately connecting to Oklahoma City, Waco, TX, Houston and other major metropolitan areas.

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