LNG

Grupo HAM of Spain, the European Union liquefied natural gas filling station network owner, has completed a project to bring the South American nation of Chile its first LNG fuel station after previously opening a facility in Peru.

Grupo HAM of Spain, the LNG and gas fuel infrastructure company, said it partnered with Peruvian firm Limagas to build the first LNG and compressed natural gas station in the South American nation of Peru, an LNG exporting nation.

The station is on one of the main avenues of the city of Cuzco, located in the Peruvian Andes.

The service station currently offers its customers CNG and with its two double dispensers and 80 cubic metres LNG tank will soon be filled with fuel.

“The Cuzco CGN-LNG gas station is the first of three planned natural gas stations in Peru, including a second station in Cuzco and another to be opened at Quillabamba during 2021,” said HAM.

With these new projects, HAM continues to help promote the use of LNG and CNG in South America, where its subsidiary HAM Chile was chosen by local Chilean company Empresas Lipigas to design, construct and commissioning the first LNG fuel in Chile.

HAM’s Peruvian project partner Limagas is an affiliate of Empresas Lipigas.

This station will be sited at fuel facilities of Transportes San Gabriel in Linares, 300 kilometres south of the Chilean capital Santiago.

While Chile is an LNG importer, Peru has been an LNG exporter since 2010 with a plant at Pampa Melchorita comprising two liquefaction Trains and annual output of around 4 million tonnes per annum.

HAM said that the Cuzco station is on Avenida la Cultura, which extends from west to east between the districts of Cuzco, Wnachaq, San Sebastián and San Jerónimo, with significant vehicle traffic.

During the station’s inauguration, the authorities of the Regional Government of Cuzco said that having a natural gas filling station changed the nation’s energy matrix and would help lower fuel costs.

HAM now has a network of 75 LNG and CNG stations. They are located mostly in Europe with 30 in Spain, 16 in Italy, 12 in the Netherlands, nine in Belgium and eight in France, all sited at strategic points for truck transport.