Pilipinas Shell Kicks Off ‘Libreng Sakay’ Project
March 24, 2008 by Tsikot
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. will kick off today the “Libreng Sakay” project which forms part of the government’s compressed natural gas (CNG) program.
“We have finalized an arrangement that will allow 11 CNG-run buses to start plying the Metro Manila route,” Department of Energy director Mario Marasigan said.
He, however, said there are still minor concerns the bus operators and Shell’s mother-daughter CNG station are currently threshing out.
“They want to ensure the commercial operation will be sustainable,” the DOE official said.
According to Marasigan, a technical working group had met several times to resolve these issues.
“The operators of the CNG-run buses want an assurance that there would be sufficient supply for all the buses that would convert into CNG,” he said.
The implementation of the CNG pilot project had earlier been delayed due to “technical problems”. Marasigan said these have already been resolved and the project will now start fielding out 11 buses from the committed 200 buses this year.
President Arroyo, during the launch of the CNG project, announced that CNG buses shall also be plying major thoroughfares in Metro Manila to help raise the level of the public awareness on clean and indigenous fuels.
In line with the program, Shell was supposed to likewise launch Libreng Sakay from Batangas to Cubao.
Shell CNG, available at the northbound Binan Shell service station along the South Luzon Expressway, is exclusive to buses accredited by the Department of Energy plying the Laguna-Cubao/Lawton and the Batangas-Cubao/Lawton routes.
The clean, indigenous gas is extracted from the Malampaya gas wells in Palawan and compressed at a mother station in Batangas and transported to the Binan daughter filling station.
Shell spent P100 million for the construction of the mother-daughter CNG stations. The Shell group has been given priority in putting up the mother-daughter CNG station, being the lead operator of biggest natural gas find in the Philippines.
CNG costs only P14.52 per liter compared to diesel at an average P37.36 per liter, thus resulting to P22.84 savings per liter. A city bus running for 200 kilometers per day will record daily savings of about P4,568.
by By Donnabelle L. Gatdula
Philippine Star Source
Link to this Article
Loading ...
Comments
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!