Caspian Report - Issue: 07 - Spring 2014

conducted. New natural gas-based
plants around the world have shown
investment costs greater than 500
million Euros. According to Carlo
Mapelli, the Ilva consultant for the
implementation of the AIA, the natural
gas needs for the Taranto plants
could rise up to 1.5 bcm/y (representing
10% of the Italian industrial
gas demand recorded in 2012).
Fuel Shift in Transportation
the biggest deterrent to the development
of natural gas in the transportation
sector, considering also
the limited autonomy of the CNGpowered
vehicles. In recent years
progress have been made in the
The use of natural gas for transportation
is one of the objectives of the European
Commission.
The use of natural gas for transportation
is one of the objectives of the
European Commission: Member
States are to adopt national policies
in order to develop markets for alternative
fuels and their infrastructures.
In fact, the EU aims to promote
the sustainable development
of the transport sector, accelerating
the use of fuel-efficient vehicles
for transport, thereby reducing CO 2
emissions. Italy is responding to this
with the increasing use of natural
gas-powered vehicles, in particular
CNG (compressed natural gas) cars
and commercial vehicles. Indeed,
CNG vehicles currently represent a
concrete answer to two key factors:
the reduction of CO 2
emissions along
with costs for motorists. Although
the consumption of natural gas for
vehicles constitutes only 1.23% of
total demand, the sector has experience
rapid growth recently, and Italy
is now the leading EU country in
terms of CNG vehicle adoption, with
847,000 units. In the EU, three natural
gas vehicles out of four are Italian.
However, despite the strong growth
in recent years, the feeling is that the
Italian market could do more. The
scarcity of distributors is certainly
implementation of the distribution
network. The number of CNG stations
has grown by 37% in the last
four years (Figure 15), but the sector
needs even greater momentum
to overcome the obstacles to greater
market penetration.
At the Italian level, on August 9 th
2013, decree n. 69/2013, containing
measures for economic recovery,
entered into law. Specifically,
Article 4, paragraph 7 promotes the
implementation of the liquid fuels
distribution network and the use of
methane as a fuel. The fund for the
implementation of the distribution
network also aims to provide grants
for the closing and contextual transformation
of liquid fuels distribution
systems into exclusive methane distribution
facilities.
AIEE, based on a study of Federmetano,
which indicates 2,370,000
as the hypothetical natural gas road
fleet in 2020, has estimated the demand
for natural gas for low duty
vehicles at around 1.64 bcm in 2020,
and up to 4 bcm in 2030, considering
both the new CNG vehicles and those
with retrofitted engines. Moreover,
liquefied natural gas (LNG) is set to
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CASPIAN REPORT, SPRING 2014