Moving towards sustainable global transport – LNG is growing its relevance

Global gas demand is growing steadily, and Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is growing its relevance as a global fuel both on land and sea. LNG is now the fastest growing commodity market and Qatar is the global LNG leader. The U.S. is expected to become the market leader and China is also one of the biggest markets using and importing LNG. Europe is also taking steps towards more sustainable traffic with countries such as UK, Netherlands, Spain and Sweden leading the way. Gasum is building sustainable traffic by strengthening LNG’s Nordic infrastructure and making sure the availability of gas in the Nordics.

Global gas demand is expected to grow 1.6% per year over the next four years, reaching a level of nearly 4 billion cubic meters by 2022. Last year the LNG market grew by 8%. Qatar is the global LNG leader, but the U.S. is expected to surpass it by 2024.

According to recent research, LNG as a fuel will have a significant market share in the transport sector by 2035. According to the research, LNG’s greatest potential is in road transport for heavy-duty vehicles.

“It is encouraging to see that LNG’s economic and environmental advantages have been noted globally. The use of LNG reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 20% compared with fossil diesel on life cycle analysis. Driving on gas reduces nitrogen oxide emissions, particles and noise emissions. It is a great fuel now and, in the future,” says Jukka Metsälä, Vice President, Traffic at Gasum.

Global gas infrastructure is growing rapidly

Japan is the biggest importer of LNG. However, LNG market in China is growing rapidly. In 2017 China had more than 230,000 LNG trucks and around 3,000 filling stations for Compressed natural gas (CNG) and LNG. Sales of LNG heavy trucks increased by 540% in the first seven months of 2017 which accounts for more than 39,000 new trucks.

Also, China plans to increase the number of filling stations to around 12,000 stations by 2020. It imports LNG from 25 countries in Asian Pacific, North America and the Middle East.

The Paris Agreement, EU and European Governments have set high targets for reduced emissions going forward. Germany is the first country looking to subsidize energy-efficient, low-carbon trucks using Compressed (CNG) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

In Europe, countries such as the UK, Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Sweden are building the gas infrastructure on a fast pace. There are around 6,000 LNG trucks in Europe along with around 230 LNG filling stations. Filling station infrastructure is most developed in Northwest Europe.

Gasum is building the Nordic gas infrastructure

Gasum has the most extensive and reliable network of gas filling stations and the most comprehensive fuel offering in the Nordics. Gasum delivered over 6,000 truckloads of LNG and Liquefied biogas (LBG) in 2018.

By targeting to build a network of 50 new LNG filling stations in the Nordics by early 2020s, Gasum is participating in the global trend of building more sustainable road transport. The new gas filling stations will focus on heavy duty vehicles segment where the energy consumption is the highest and will cover major roads and distribution hubs in the Nordics.

LBG reduces greenhouse gas emissions

Gasum’s infrastructure covers the full value chain from production to storage and transport and secures the availability of gas in the Nordics. Gasum sees that in the future road transport sector will also use more liquified biogas (LBG). LBG reduces greenhouse gas emissions by up to 85% compared to fossil fuel. The production of LBG implements the principles of circular economy. It is manufactured from e.g. municipal biowaste and is produced locally.

“LNG enables LBG deployment. The transition from LNG to LBG does not require any additional investments and can be achieved with the current infrastructure and the same vehicles. We believe that more and more heavy-duty vehicles will start using LNG and when the availability of LBG is steady, the share of LBG will be increased significantly”, Jukka Metsälä says.

Sources:

Smajla, I.; Karasalihović Sedlar, D.; Drljača, B.; Jukić, L., Fuel Switch to LNG in Heavy Truck Traffic, Energies 2019 

MDPI, Richtlinie über die Förderung von energieeffizienten und/oder CO2-armen schweren Nutzfahrzeugen in Unternehmen des Güterkraftverkehrs, 2018

Madden, M.; White, N.; Le Fevre, C. LNG in Transportation; INIS-FR—15-0528; CEDIGAZ: Paris, France, 2014; Volume 46.

Clemente, Jude. 9 Things To Know About The Booming Global Liquefied Natural Gas Market, Forbes, 2019

Published: 10.10.2019