名誉会长武涤同志对燃气协会在2012年的工作表示肯定，同时指出协会要在规范燃气企业行为方面下功夫，为会员单位建立交流平台，通过新技术、新举措，共同维护我区燃气市场安全稳定。

会上，同意增补王欢林同志为燃气协会理事、副会长，并审议通过了上海思达斯易仪器仪表有限公司的入会申请。

Fleets operating along the I-84 and I-15 corridors from Las Vegas, Nev., through Utah, Idaho, and eastern Oregon can now rent Kenworth trucks fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG) through a new rental program available from PACCAR Leasing Company (PacLease), its local franchise – Kenworth Sales Company, and Blu LNG. PacLease and Salt Lake City-based Kenworth Sales Company are teaming up with Blu LNG to provide the LNG-fueled trucks and the LNG fuel to power them.

The rental program will offer trucks in four different configurations to meet the needs of most fleets while matching the LNG fueling infrastructure that Blu LNG is currently installing. The trucks are scheduled to roll off the assembly line shortly and will be available in local-delivery, regional-haul, long-haul and heavy-haul configurations. The trucks will be available at select Kenworth Sales Company-PacLease locations throughout the four western states near to where Blu has recently completed construction of LNG fueling stations.

The three Idaho locations are in Boise, Idaho Falls and Jerome. In Utah, there are three in Salt Lake City, and one in Salina and one in Washington. There are also locations in Las Vegas, Nev., and Pendleton, Ore.

“For companies involved in regional food and beverage distribution, oil and gas exploration, hauling raw products for the agricultural industry, or finished products for food processors, this will be an opportunity to test natural gas-powered trucks in their specific operations and duty cycles,” said Olen Hunter, director of sales for PacLease.

“This also offers fleets the opportunity to make sure the fueling infrastructure has been established to meet their needs and routes,” Hunter added. “Additionally, they can determine if the price difference between LNG and diesel fuels offers them enough savings to consider more wide-spread adoption of natural gas-powered trucks into their fleet operations.”

More locations will be available as new Blu LNG stations come online and rental truck equipment capacity is added nationally.

Recently the average price of a diesel gallon-equivalent of LNG has been running about a $1 below the average price of a gallon of diesel fuel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration and Clean Energy Fuels.

All four configurations will feature the Kenworth T800 equipped with one 120-gallon LNG fuel tank, a 15-liter Westport high-pressure direct injection (HPDI) engine and manual transmission in various specifications:

• The local-delivery configuration will feature a day cab, single drive axle and a weight rating of 65,000 GVW.
• The regional-haul configuration will feature a day cab, tandem drive axle and a weight rating of 80,000 GVW.
• The line-haul configuration will feature a 38-inch sleeper, tandem or tridem drive axles and a weight rating of 80,000 GVW.
• The heavy-haul configuration will feature day cab or 38-inch sleeper, heavy-duty tridem drive axles and maximum weight ratings that meet local state weight laws.

PacLease can also provide long-haul units with dual LNG tanks for fleets with longer operating ranges.

“The heavy-haul configuration will be particularly well spec’d to handle the punishing environments typical with oil and gas exploration work,” Hunter added. “This rental program has the potential to really open up the market for buying and leasing natural gas-powered trucks. It gives companies an opportunity to use a lower cost and cleaner locally produced natural gas while reducing our dependency on foreign oil.”