Santo Domingo. - The company Soluciones en Gas Natural, S.A., of the Group Plaza Lama and the company AES Andres, proprietor of the country’s only Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal, signed two contracts for the purchase of natural gas to be distributed to the industrial and vehicle markets in its liquid as well as compressed state.

They said the agreement, signed by Soluciones en Gas Natural S.A. vice-president Pedro Juan Lama Hache, and by AES Dominicana president Marco De la Rosa, will make it easier for the environment-friendly fuel, reach a higher number of consumers who’ll take advantage of the product’s highly competitive price.

“It’s an example of the confidence that local industrialists have in the development  of the natural gas market as the best option to motor the the industry’s sustainable development,” De la Rosa said upon signung the contracts.

Savings

For his part Lama Hache said the investment “will represent a saving of 50% for users of fuels derived from petroleum, like gasoline and diesel, as much for the vehicles as well as in productive processes.”

He said six compressed natural gas stations will be inaugurated simultaneously in December, with 30 more expected to open in 2009 across the nation, as the result of the important investment.

He stressed that users who want to convert their vehicles to natural gas won’t have to pay the initial cost because they could get financing with the repayment mode used in other Latin American countries like Colombia and Peru.

Soluciones en Gas Natural will market the fuel in its liquid state (cryogenic) as well as in its compressed state using the pumping facilities at AES Andres, whose construction is projected to begin at the end of October. “The product in its compressed state will be supplied when this company finishes its Compression Mother Plant near AES Andres, and expects to market it in its liquid state by mid next year.”

“The tourism and transport industries, including free zones, could widely benefit with the use of this fuel,” added the executives.