A unit of Russian producer Novatek is looking to double the number of its liquefied natural gas fueling stations in Germany to cater to an increasing number of LNG-powered trucks on the roads.
Novatek Green Energy opened its latest facility in Elsterheide, boosting the total to eight LNG stations.
“Novatek is planning to double this number till the end of the year 2021,” Dariusz Braton, chief executive of Novatek Green Energy, said in an emailed statement to LNG Prime.
Each station features a 60 cbm LNG tank and serves about 150 vehicles a day.
Furhermore, German LNG logistics firm BarMalGas operates all of these stations for the Novatek unit.
In addition, Novatek said in December its unit had launched Europe’s first carbon-neutral LNG station for heavy-duty transport in the German port city of Rostock.
Novatek would use nature-based or other carbon offsets to compensate the carbon footprint of LNG sold to customers, the firm previously said.
The market for LNG as a truck fuel is growing rapidly in Germany as owners look to slash emissions but also a road tax exemption for such vehicles until the end of 2023.
A recent report by German industry initiative Zukunft Gas says the volume of LNG sold at 46 German filling stations more than tripled in 2020 compared to the previous year.
These volumes rose to almost 48,000 tons last year, compared to 14,550 tons in 2019, it said.