By Rajive Singh
ABU DHABI: Adnoc Distribution in bid to offer alternative low-emissions fuels, plan to construct the Arabian Gulf’s largest compressed natural gas for vehicles service station in Mahawi on the Abu Dhabi-Al Ain Road.
The mega station will have an hourly pumping capacity of 2,850 standard cubic metres (SCM), the highest in the region, said Wam.
The new station will raise the number of CNG-enabled service stations in Abu Dhabi emirate to 31 by the end of this year. Adnoc Distribution opened 7 new CNG stations in Abu Dhabi in 2016: with the total number of suchnservice stations in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region now at 28.
Abu Dhabi already has the largest number of stations servicing gas-powered vehicles in the entire Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Adnoc Distribution said there has been a 50 per cent increase in Natural Gas for Vehicles (NGV) usage in the Abu Dhabi emirate in 2016. With over 5,500 NGV-converted vehicles now being run in Abu Dhabi, this figure constitutes the highest number of such vehicles among all of the emirates of the UAE.
Cleaner Fuel
NGV (Natural Gas for Vehicles) is an alternative vehicle fuel that uses compressed natural gas (CNG) as a cleaner alternative transportation.
It can be used in all types of transportation applications including vehicles, buses, trucks, cranes, vans, and also in forklifts. Vehicles running on petrol can be converted to bi-fuel. Conversion takes six to eight hours and doesn’t require any engine modification. Bi-fuel vehicles run on NGV and petrol, stored in separate tanks. NGV is a clean, safe, economical and convenient alternative fuel.
Saeed Mubarak Al Rashdi, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Adnoc Distribution, said, “Adnoc Distribution’s CNG stations are helping Abu Dhabi to reduce the carbon footprint of private, business and government vehicles while also providing customers an efficient and
cost-effective solution for running their vehicles. Through our expansion of NGV network, we are playing our full part in helping the Abu Dhabi government meet its target to require 25 per cent of government vehicles to run on low-emissions CNG in line with Abu Dhabi’s Economic Vision 2030.”
The rapid expansion of Abu Dhabi’s NGV network has also been assisted by the fact that NGV prices have been held substantially lower than conventional fuels such as gasoline and diesel on energy equivalent terms.
A new pricing scheme came into effect from 1st March will set the tariff for NGV at Dh1.40 per SCM, compared to Dh1.32 previously. With this, the fuel cost per 100 KM for a passenger car with NGV is about Dh13 as against approximately AED 19 with gasoline, which reflects the fact that NGV remains significantly cheaper than other comparable fuels available on the market.
ADNOC Distribution opens two new Xpress stations in Abu Dhabi city
Adnoc Distribution has announced the opening of two new Xpress stations in Abu Dhabi city as part of phase one of its plan to open 10 of the stations to service the most congested areas of the city and its suburbs.
The new stations are Al Qurm Xpress on Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Khubaira Xpress on King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Street in Al Bateen area.
Both stations offer Super 98 and Special 95 fuel varieties based on the findings of a survey conducted by the company that showed most customers in those areas favoured these two fuel types.
The opening of the two new Xpress stations brings the Adnoc Xpress network to 4 units. Phase one of the network’s expansion, scheduled for completion in Q1 2017, will see the addition of two stations in Mohammed bin Zayed City, and one station in each of Shakhbout City, Khalifa City, Delma Street, and Al Falah Street.