Petronas: NGV Use For Cleaner Environment, Not Due To Higher Oil Prices

General

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November 01, 2004 17:51 PM

Petronas President and CEO Tan Sri Hassan Marican (left) during an interview with BERNAMA in Kuala Lumpur, Monday.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 (Bernama) -- Petronas is encouraging the use of Natural Gas for Vehicles (NGV) because it is better for the environment - not because oil prices have gone through the roof.

"If you are going to relate the increase in NGV use to oil prices you are not looking at it in the right perspective," Petronas President and CEO Tan Sri Hassan Marican told reporters Monday.

"We would like to expand NGV for environmental reasons," Hassan stressed.

"If you are talking about NGV substituting gasoline or diesel because of the high price of gasoline and diesel, you have to also understand that NGV is also subsidised," he pointed out.

The subsidy comes from Petronas, he said.

NGV sells for between 56 and 58 sen per litre, he said, which is about half the price of gasoline.

Diesel sells for 83 sen per litre.

Although Hassan would not specify the Petronas subsidy for NGV, the market price for NGV is understood to be between the market price of diesel and the market price of gasoline.

If more vehicles switched to NGV, more gasoline could be exported and could earn more foreign exchange for Malaysia, but he stressed that these are "secondary factors".

The Cabinet Committee to study the impact of the price increase of fuel and petroleum products on the economy had recommended the use of NGV last month.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy said on Oct 21 that the Cabinet Committee on NGV plans to increase the number of public vehicles using NGV by about 10 per cent and more NGV stations would have to be built - with plans for another 200 stations by 2007.

Petronas began a pilot NGV programme in 1986 and set up Petronas NGV in 1995.

Today, about 12,300 vehicles use NGV in Malaysia.

Only 120 of them are private vehicles. The rest are taxis.

There are now 38 NGV stations across the peninsula, with 10 more under construction.

Vehicles contribute about 79 per cent of the air pollution in the country.

NGV is the cleanest burning fuel and significantly reduces the levels of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide.

"If we can get buses and (government) fleet vehicles to run on NGV, we would have cleaner air, especially in the Klang Valley," Hassan predicted, noting that Petronas had also pioneered the use of unleaded petroleum in the country.

He pointed out that when India introduced legislation making it compulsory for public transport to switch to NGV, the air quality improved.

Petronas has developed limousine taxis using NGV with a French company and owns some intellectual property rights for this, Hassan added.

In addition to their use in Malaysia, the NGV limousine taxis are being tested in Bangkok via the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) and in Manila via the Philippines National Oil Corporation (PNOC).

-- BERNAMA