Trucks urged to switch to natural gas.
Converting diesel-fuelled rigs, fleet in hopes customers will too
If your product has suddenly become plentiful and cheap, the best approach is to find new markets.
Encana Corp., a major natural gas producer, has chosen that challenging route by making the switch from diesel to natural gas a bit easier for truckers, drillers and even railroaders.
The firm has converted 14 of its own drilling rigs to run on natural gas and is about one-third of the way through a conversion of its truck fleet to run on the fuel it produces, while supporting natural gas use across the oilpatch.
“We are walking the walk,” said David Hill, vice-president of natural-gas economy operations, the team behind Encana’s liquid natural gas (LNG) and compressed natural gas (CNG) initiatives in North America.
While CNG is best for vehicles that return to a base each day, such as refuse trucks and buses, Encana’s major push is into the LNG market for the high horsepower engines in highway transport trucks and other large vehicles, as well as drilling rigs in remote areas.
Earlier this month, Encana and Ferus LNG announced they will build a 190,000-litreper-day LNG plant near Grande Prairie to supply trucks and drilling rigs in that region.
“Ferus will begin to convert their trucks to LNG as well,” said Hill. “With CNG and LNG, I call it a new ecosystem. You have to start and put the flag in the ground for this concept.”
In 2011, Encana saved $12 million in fuel costs by using natural gas instead of diesel in drilling rigs and trucks. It expects to beat that figure in 2012.
While Hill believes other companies have noticed — medium-sized drilling firm CanElson is installing dualfuel systems that burn diesel and natural gas together on its generators at rig sites — he has his eye on the hundreds of thousands of inter-city transport trucks. Because few firms are currently using LNG, permanent stations can’t be justified. So Encana has opted for 10 mobile fuelling stations in the United States, where customers can refuel.
“This helps an LNG fleet get started. A mobile unit can supply 15 to 30 trucks, there are credit-card readers and we can park these at truck stops,” said Hill. “These are tanks on wheels with dispensers, and for customers who are paying up to 35 per cent less than diesel, this option is very attractive.”
While the operating costs are lower than diesel, the vehicles can cost 30 per cent more.
“But as the market grows, those premiums will come down,” Hill added.
The best news in that area is a new engine that will be available next year — an 11.9 litre Westport Cummins.
“This is the engine people have been waiting for. It fills the gap between the current 8.9 litre, which is a bit small for many big vehicles, and the 14.9 litre, which is a bit large for others.”
Hill thinks that by the end of the decade, more than 10 per cent of large trucks on the road will be running on LNG. As well, CN Rail is in the middle of tests on an LNG-fuelled diesel locomotive that runs between Edmonton and Fort McMurray. And there are new bi-fuel pickup trucks coming from Chrysler and General Motors in 2013. The Ram 2500 and Sierra 2500 run on either gasoline or CNG.
“It is important to be able to use both fuels, because the infrastructure is just being developed for natural gas. But these vehicles will carry both 80 litres of natural gas and the usual gasoline tank, so your range will be about (1,100 kilometres). So when you are out and about, you don’t have to worry about being stranded.”
Hill says his job is to spread the word about natural-gas fuels.
“There are 50 rigs in North America using natural gas and more coming. We just need to get more people to be aware of the cost savings as well as the environmental savings that we can have by using this fuel.”