China’s road transport sector has consumed nearly 13 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas last year as the number of LNG-powered vehicles continues to surge.
The world’s second-largest LNG importer has more than 3,000 LNG filling stations, ten times more when compared to 300+ stations in 21 countries across Europe, according to Shell’s latest annual LNG Outlook.
China’s fleet of LNG-fueled trucks and buses is nearing an unbelievable number of 600,000 vehicles, according to the report. LNG-fueled trucks, which number increased about four times since 2016, account for most of these vehicles.
To remind, China’s LNG imports hit an all-time high last year rising 11.5 percent year-on-year to 67.13 million tonnes.
Shell said in the report it expects the country’s announcement of a target to become carbon neutral by 2060 to continue driving up its LNG demand through the “key role gas can play in decarbonising hard-to-abate sectors, namely buildings, heavy industry, shipping and heavy-duty road transport.”
In addition, Europe has also seen a steady increase in LNG-powered trucks and currently has about 15,000 LNG-powered trucks in operation, the report said.
The report predicts European road LNG demand to reach 7.9 million tonnes by 2030. Bio-LNG would account for about 40% of this demand.