VOLGOGRAD, November 23. /TASS/. Gazprom is going to build one hundred small-capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) plans on twenty-one federal highways in Russia by 2030, deputy department head of the Russian gas giant said

"We plan to create about one hundred small-capacity plants producing LNG by resources of our main operators - these are Gazprom Helium Service, Gazprom LNG Technologies, and Gazprom Natural Gas Vehicle Fuel - and also by resources of subsidiaries having it as the core business, actually covering twenty-one federal routes with the refueling capability. We expect at the end of the day that we will be able to drive using natural gas from St. Petersburg right to Astrakhan and from St. Petersburg to Magnitogorsk, Yekaterinburg and further by 2030," Alexander Mikhailov noted.

Gazprom also plans to create 189 gas refueling stations on highways. Total looking-forward LNG consumption upon implementation of this strategy is estimated at 863 mln cubic meters per year by 2030.

"We are implementing programs on conversion of our vehicle fleet since 2014. Our subsidiaries have actually the entire segment of transport we see on public motorways in the gas build. We predominantly use compressed natural gas but there are vehicles running on liquefied natural gas also. This is up to the consumer to choose," he added.

According to the Russian Energy Ministry, seventeen small-capacity LNG plants are now operating in the country, with their capacity utilization standing at 49% in average. Russia intends to ramp up liquefied natural gas production from 33 mln metric tons in 2023 to 100 mln metric tons per year by 2030.