With the first 70 fueling stations in place for natural gas vehicles (NGV), the national network for a “natural gas highway” is set to surpass last year’s growth in 2013, according to Seal Beach, CA-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which said Tuesday that its core business of building fueling facilities shot up 87% last year from 2011.

Clean Energy released a third edition of its “The Road to Natural Gas,” detailing NGV fueling agreements it has inked since the last report. Clean Energy said it built 127 compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling stations in 2012, nearly doubling its output from a year earlier.

Clean Energy reported completing 22 new fueling stations that are part of a national highway network covering 17 states from California to Ohio.

Soaring pump prices for diesel ($4.14/gallon) and gasoline ($3.74/gallon) added to Clean Energy’s bullishness. “Both fuels are significantly more expensive than natural gas at the pump, up to $1.50/gallon more, depending on local market conditions,” the company said.

Since Nov. 1, Clean Energy provided an additional 455 new CNG refuse trucks to its 101 refuse customers and another 567 additional CNG-powered vehicles that were ordered during the past four months.

“This year is already shaping up to surpass 2012 in the drive toward natural gas,” said Andrew Littlefair, Clean Energy CEO, noting that the “chicken-egg” issue about vehicles and fueling stations has been “taken off the table.” Littlefair said his company is seeing “significant interest and movement” by the long-haul trucking industry to switch to natural gas (mostly LNG) amid “historic high levels” for diesel and gasoline prices.

Clean Energy said it has signed three new fueling station agreements with regional partners tied to the development of a nationwide fueling network for NGVs. The deals are with Road Ranger, a Midwest truck stop, gasoline station and convenience store chain; Suhaan Group, a Houston-based regional truck strop operator; and Petroleum Wholesale, a Southwest operator of truck stops and gasoline stations.

Among its other new fuel and service agreements, Clean Energy listed 13 in the refuse and other vocational industries; eight in the public transit sector; seven new airport/shuttle/taxi deals; and nine new tracking company, shipper and carrier agreements.

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