The station was launched by NOVATEK Green Energy in the German port city of Rostock.
The term “carbon-neutral refuelling station” signifies that NOVATEK has compensated for the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that occurred during the transport of the LNG, during the refuelling station’s operations and final consumption.
The compensation is received and accounted for thanks to carbon units – an accounting system known as carbon offsets.
“Carbon neutral offsets from a carefully selected portfolio of emission reduction projects, including wind generation projects in developing countries, will be used to compensate for the LNG’s carbon footprint sold to end-customers,” NOVATEK Green Energy noted in a statement.
As part of NOVATEK’s long-term strategy, the company plans to build a network of LNG fuelling stations in Europe to provide heavy duty transport with clean fuel at key transport connecting points between Germany and Poland. The company now operates a network of six LNG fuelling stations in the European market as well as 19 regasification facilities.
“NOVATEK is actively developing a network of LNG fuelling stations both in Russia and Europe as natural gas is an environmentally friendly, clean burning energy fuel source,” said Lev Feodosyev, NOVATEK’s First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board.
NOVATEK hopes to open an LNG terminal in Rostock in 2023 with a capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year – intended for receiving sea tankers and gas carriers, including from the terminal of the company Kriogaz-Vysotsk near St. Petersburg.
The company had earlier announced that it is preparing measures for further reduction of its carbon footprint in the atmosphere at its sites, including though the use of renewable energy sources.
Novatek’s head, Leonid Mikhelson, said the size of its hydrocarbon footprint is about 15 % less than the average world-wide indicator. But the company, he said, had recently begun to take account of the risk of global warming in its reporting.
