Regional governor suggests transfer of motor vehicles to natural gas

Governor of the Ryazan region of Russia Vyacheslav Lyubimov suggestedlaunching a pilot project for transferring regional motor vehicles fromgasoline to liquefied natural gas. The governor voiced this suggestion inMoscow today, at an expanded meeting of the government commission for theuse of natural and liquefied gas as motor fuel. The Ryazan regionalgovernor explained it was worth launching such a project in his regionbecause, according to estimates of experts, almost all districts in theRyazan region would be provided with natural gas by 2003. In addition,natural gas will be supplied from Mordovia to the region in the nearfuture.Lyubimov reported that about 3,000 gas networks had been constructed in theRyazan region over the past five years. Moreover, five major gas networksand two underground gas storages are located in this part of Russia. Thereare two large highways in the region and it is used by 25-30,000 cars aday. The use of liquefied natural gas has already enabled the region tosave 10m rubles (about $317,000), the governor concluded..