Promigas and Cálidda form the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) corridor in Peru

promises inaugurated on June 22 in the city of Trujillo your first service station liquefied natural gas (LNG), installation that will be connected to another similar one in Chiclayoalso under his administration, and to which warm has been operating since last January Stone bridge (Lime),

In this way, a LNG green corridor of more than 760 kilometers in length between Lima and Chiclayo, indicates Juan Manuel Rojaspresident of the Colombian company.

Not only that, Cálidda expects other LNG projects in the south of the country to join in the near future.

“We know that there is an initiative to put a couple of stations in Arequipa and another in Abancay, with which a larger corridor is going to be formed, but we are going to start with these first three stations.”, points out Martín Mejía, CEO of Cálidda.

The main objective of this corridor is to attend the transport of heavy loads and long distances, which demands a fuel with high energy efficiency (autonomy).

This is something he compressed natural gas (CNG) cannot toast, but he can diesel and also LNG. That is, the gas that we all know, but subjected to a freezing process to be used in liquid forma circumstance that facilitates its transport and use (its volume is reduced 600 times).

According to Promigas, LNG can generate savings of up to 40% compared to the use of diesel, a more expensive and polluting fuel.

Hence the importance of this green corridor, which will be used, first of all, by the Promigas trucks that are in charge of transporting LNG from Pampa Melchorita (Ica) towards the regasification plants that the Colombian company operates in the north of the country.

The next step will be its commercial sale to the tracts and buses – from other companies – that run along the northern coast. To do this, however, it is necessary to settle some issues related to permissions.

And it is that both the LNG stations of Promigas, as well as that of Cálidda, are only operating in test mode and not commercially.

This, despite the fact that they all have the authorization of osinergmin to supply fuel and, also, with a regulation that supports them, warns Mejía. What is needed?

According to Mejía, “only A leg is missing from this table.” and that is the authorization of Cofide to activate the load control in LNG vehicles.

“The issue is that all vehicles that consume natural gas in Peru must have a chip, but this chip is only authorized for vehicles converted to natural gas and not for those that come directly from the factory.”, he points out.

Given that the LNG technology is new in Peru, there are still no converted vehicles in the authorized workshopsonly imported units that await the implementation of the load control (chip) to start rolling on the country’s roads.

When asked about it, Promigas told this newspaper that the chip delivery process has already begun with “trucks that meet the requirements”.

It is the case of two LNG trucks imported, brand Iveco and Shacman, which the Colombian has acquired for its virtual fleet in its coverage area.

“Finally, our station is ready and in the final stage of permits to start with the commercialization”, Promigas pointed out.

The natural gas concessionaire seeks for its entire fleet of tanker trucks (tracts) to operate 100% with either CNG or LNG by the end of 2024.