Natural Gas for Vehicles in Australia

Natural Gas for Vehicles (NGV) offers an important range of benefits to Australia in terms of energy, transport and the environment. This is recognised in Federal Government policies which guarantee the excise-free status of environment friendly alternative fuels for five years, with one year's notification of any change to that status.

For reasons such as the environment or security of supply of transport fuels, many other countries are also demonstrating an increasing interest in NGV. This is reflected in the increasing numbers of vehicles worldwide, and in countries having policies to positively encourage NGV and other alternative fuels. The Australian gas industry has been at the forefront of NGV activities, and this is shown by the extent of international involvement, the technological developments made by gas utilities, and the release in December 1992 of the industry's long term plans to substitute 10% of transport petrol and diesel with natural gas (1).