Natural Gas Makes Impact in Transport Fuels - IEA
Natural gas will increase its share of road transport fuels to 2.5% in 2018 from 1.4% in 2010 as consumers look for cheaper, cleaner forms of propulsion, according to the International Energy Agency.
Further displacement of oil as the leading transport fuel is being held back by the need for “substantial” infrastructure, the IEA said in its medium-term oil-market report, published today. Oil will account for 96.4% of road-transport fuel in 2018 from 97.8% in 2010, the Paris-based organisation said.
Natural-gas fuel infrastructure buildup “could begin to happen in a big way over the forecast period, but regardless may not bear fruit until later,” the IEA says. “While this infrastructure development could eventually pave the way for substantial displacement of oil by natural gas in the transport sector, truly meaningful fuel switching is not expected to occur until after the end of the forecast period.”
The prospect of cheap gas extracted from shale rocks has led to renewed interest in using the fuel, as liquefied or compressed gas, to power vehicles. In the US, natural gas is selling at about one-fourth the cost of crude oil, agency Bloomberg reports.