The National Energy Administration is formulating the "oil to gas" standard for automotive engines

On October 10, relevant officials of the Division of Petroleum and Natural Gas of the National Energy Administration told a reporter from the China Securities News at the China Petroleum Conference in 2011 that the Energy Bureau is working with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to formulate relevant standards for the conversion of conventional automotive engines to LNG engines.

The relevant person of Guanghui Co., Ltd. (600256) had previously told a reporter of the China Securities Journal that a 360-horsepower heavy-duty truck traveled 100,000 kilometers a year. Using LNG, each car can save 100,000 yuan in fuel costs per vehicle, and one vehicle. The price of the original LNG heavy truck is only about 100,000 yuan more than that of ordinary diesel and diesel heavy trucks, and only about 80,000 yuan is required for the conversion of a heavy truck to an LNG heavy truck conversion fee. If a heavy truck uses LNG as a fuel, it will take less than a year. Recoverable costs are higher than diesel heavy trucks, after which fuel costs will be saved by 40%.

Even so, LNG heavy trucks still have many problems in promotion. "In-use vehicles" converted to LNG fuel vehicles need to be transformed from the original engine. Due to the lack of relevant regulations, such modified vehicles are difficult to pass the annual inspection. In addition, the number of filling stations is limited, and the procedures involved in the construction of LNG auto filling stations are complicated. This has led to a slow establishment of stations, which has seriously affected the promotion speed of LNG heavy trucks.

In August of this year, the National Energy Administration formally approved the "LNG vehicle refueling station technical specifications" industry standard. The official implementation time is November 1, 2011. The official said that the introduction of LNG auto gas station standards is conducive to the promotion of LNG vehicles.

Like LNG heavy trucks, LNG carriers also have problems with missing standards. Since cargo ships usually travel between two points, surface transportation is more stable than land transportation. Therefore, it is more suitable for LNG to be used as a fuel for heavy-duty trucks. Currently, there are hundreds of thousands of transport vessels on numerous inland waterways in China. Recently, a new version of the “Guidelines for the Inspection of Gas Fuelled Power Vessels”, led by the Wuhan Institute of Standards and Research of China Classification Society, has recently passed expert review in Wuhan.

The official of the Energy Agency stated that the IMO has stricter standards for shipping emissions. CNG LNG-powered ships are trialling in the Yangtze River basin. It appears that the experimental results are quite optimistic. The relevant national authorities will consider the standard-setting of LNG-powered vessels based on experimental results. However, it seems that the time for the development of this standard will still take some time.

Industry insiders believe that the gradual introduction of the above standards will bring long-term benefits to companies such as PetroChina, Sinopec, and Guanghui, which are engaged in LNG production and sales. (Wang Yingchun)