OREANDA-NEWS. Last week, OJSC KAMAZ’s representatives participated in a meeting devoted to development prospects of the gas fuel market in agriculture and the gas fuelling infrastructure.

The meeting was chaired by Viktor Zubkov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC GAZPROM. It was attended by managers of OOO Gazprom gazomotornoye toplivo, representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation, authorities of the Republic of Tatarstan, Krasnodar and Stavropol Krais, Belgorod, Volgograd, Voronezh, Rostov, Orenburg and Ulyanovsk Oblasts, manufacturers of agricultural products and equipment, as well as Rosagroleasing Company, Rosselkhozbank, Gazprombank OJSC.

OJSC KAMAZ was represented by Ruslan Ziatdinov, Director of NGV Sales of OJSC KAMAZ; Rafael Batyrshin, General Director of OOO RariTEK; Alfred Gatiyatov, Deputy General Director of KAMAZ NGV Sales and Development. Rafael Batyrshin addressed the participants of the meeting with a presentation on “KAMAZ vehicles running on natural gas. Prospects of development in agriculture” in which he showed potentials of innovative gas-powered vehicles, presented a model range, including agricultural vehicles, and also mentioned about a necessity to take a comprehensive approach to solve problems of mass introduction of gas-powered KAMAZ vehicles.

Being one of the largest grain producers and processors in the world, Russia has unique agrarian potential. To date, almost 20% of expenses of agricultural enterprises are fuel costs. The share of gas doesn’t exceed 1% in the total volume of the used fuel. And the use of natural gas is much more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly. Replacement of traditional fuels with natural gas will enable to reduce operational costs of enterprises for fuels and lubricants, reduce harmful emissions and, naturally, land degradation. Experience of the agricultural enterprises shared at the meeting shows that conversion of trucks and buses to gas cuts their operational cost by a third. Investments in re-equipment will pay back only in 6-9 months. Viktor Zubkov said he was ready to earmark necessary funds to start projecting new gas refueling stations in addition to the planned ones, “It can be done on grain transportation lines, near large enterprises which, as we see, are ready to purchase gas-powered vehicles.”

According to the results of the meeting, the participants decided to create a working group under the RF Ministry of Agriculture which will elaborate on issues of a wider use of gas fuel in agriculture. A positive feedback was received by the RF Ministry of Agriculture when it suggested giving subsidies to enterprises purchasing NGVs. Besides, measures will soon be developed to implement pilot projects of mass introduction of NGVs by agricultural enterprises in several regions.