OREANDA-NEWS. Kirovsky Zavod and Gazprom signed a memorandum of cooperation aimed at expanding usage of natural gas as motor fuel and assembling natural gas vehicles.

The memorandum of cooperation was signed by the CEO of the Kirov Group Georgy Semenenko and the Chairman of Gazprom Aleksei Miller as part of the federal project during the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg.

According to the project, Kirovsky Zavod plans to assemble natural gas vehicles and assist in preparing infrastructure for such vehicles. In turn, Gazprom is to coordinate the construction of gas-filling stations, assist in testing natural gas vehicles and promote products of the Kirov Group to potential consumers.

Natural gas motors will also be utilized in bus production at Kirovsky Zavod. Currently the Kirov Group plans to assemble 1,000 energy-efficient buses per annum based on the technologies of its German subsidiary Gopple Bus. In early 2013 the German bus manufacturer Goppel Bus, specializing in production of high-tech and innovative city buses, became part of the Kirov Group. In cooperation with Fraunhofer Institute IV from Dresden the enterprise had previously designed a line of vehicles operating on diesel, hybrid buses operating both on diesel and compressed natural gas and completely electrical vehicles.