Italy's gas grid operator Snam and api Group have signed a letter of intent to develop methane service stations across Italy, as part of a wider set of initiatives to promote sustainable mobility.
The letter of intent aims at establishing a cooperation to develop up to 150 new stations within api Group’s network, promoting the supply of alternative low-emission fuels such as natural gas.
By eliminating particulate matter (PM), the most polluting element in urban areas, methane would ensure a 40% reduction of CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions compared with gasoline and diesel, Snam said, adding it would also lead to economic savings for users of between 40% and 50%.
The initiative is part of Snam’s sustainable mobility development plan, which envisages a total investment of approximately 200 million euro over the next 5 years.
“|Leveraging its extensive experience as an infrastructure operator and its presence throughout Italy, Snam aims to support the development of methane service stations and a more balanced distribution of filling stations in different regions across the country, thus improving the quality of customer service” it said.
“In this context, api Group’s commercial network, which has 3,000 service stations across Italy and is the leading Italian private fuel company thanks to its IP brand, will identify the most suitable areas to develop new methane service stations, offering its customers a diversified range of fuels in an environmentally friendly commercial network with increasingly competitive prices” it added.
“Italy is the leading European market for natural gas consumption for vehicles” with over 1 billion cubic meters consumed in 2015 and about 1 million vehicles currently in circulation, Snam pointed out.
“This agreement will give a further boost to Italy’s natural gas value chain in the transport sector, which is globally recognized for its technological and environmental excellence, and is able to leverage Europe’s largest, most accessible gas pipeline network, stretching more than 32,000 km” the company said.
The natural gas industry in Europe and particularly in Italy has been looking in recent years at alternative uses for gas, amid a progressive decrease in demand from tradition sectors such as power generation and industrial consumption on the back of the economic crisis, as well as development of renewable generation.
Total natural gas demand in Italy stood at some 65 Bcm in 2015, showing some increase year on year but having fallen from 74 Bcm in 2012 to respectively 70 and 61 Bcm in 2013/2014, Snam data shows.