Background

The Gas into Motors NGV rally is sponsored by the largest energy majors in Russia, Kazakhstan, and China – Gazprom, KazMunayGas, and CNPC. Its 9,881-kilometer-long route mostly runs along the emerging international transit route entitled Europe – China. The rally commenced on September 4 in Rudong, China, and will conclude at the 8th St. Petersburg International Gas Forum in St. Petersburg.

The Europe – China international transit route is an ambitious integrated investment project spanning Russia, Kazakhstan, and China. It will be more than 8,000 kilometers long.

Efforts to create natural gas filling infrastructure along the Europe – China route are being taken as part of the cooperation between Gazprom, CNPC, and KazMunayGas. The respective memorandum was signed on October 5, 2017, during the 7th St. Petersburg International Gas Forum.

The Russian Highways State Company (Avtodor) was established in 2009. The company aims to expand the network of toll highways, attract extrabudgetary investments and develop the roadside service infrastructure. Avtodor is in charge of building the M11 Moscow – St. Petersburg highway and the Central Ring Road in the Moscow Region.

In October 2017, Gazprom and Avtodor signed the Action Plan (Roadmap) to develop the gas filling infrastructure along the federal highways under the responsibility of Avtodor.

Highway vehicles will be the key consumer of LNG on the M-11 highway. The projected highway traffic will be about 5,000 trucks a day, with some of them to be powered by LNG. According to expert estimates, the use of LNG instead of diesel fuel helps reduce fuel costs by 30–50 per cent. In Russia, the cost of LNG and diesel fuel for trucks per one kilometer of covered distance is RUB 8.9 and RUB 17.8, respectively.