CNG News: 23rd January 2009

Pakistan encourages maximum CNG use

The Environment Minister of Pakistan, Hameedullah Jan Afridi, said that his Government has been making efforts to promote the use of compressed natural gas (CNG) as fuel for vehicles, including not imposing any tax on the import of equipment. Speaking at the 5th International Conference on CNG conducted on 14 and 15 January 2009 in the town of Lahore, he encouraged the maximum use of natural gas for its ecological character. In addition, the official said the air quality in major cities of Pakistan would have been much worse without vehicles powered by CNG. Afridi said the Government is very conscious of its environmental obligations and has designated 2009 as Year of Environment. In this regard, he noted that many efforts being made to move some 8.000 CNG buses on the roads in the country. For his part, Dr. Awais Farooqui, a specialist from the Ministry of Environment, noted that the Government must redouble its efforts towards the exploitation of new reserves, and that while the exploration of natural gas is costly, not doing anything will be even costlier. Javed Nazir, executive director of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), stressed that Pakistan has the largest market for CNG in the world in terms of refueling stations (2.600) and converted vehicles (1.8 million). As anticipated for 2009 it will be operating over 700 stations for the gaseous fuel across the country.