The Dutch company LIQAL has been awarded a contract for a turnkey realization of a refueling station for LNG and CNG, to be located at the Texaco service station in Heverlee, Belgium.

The station will be deployed by the natural gas fuel station operator Drive Systems in cooperation with EG Group (Texaco).

LIQAL added that this is the first highway site for LNG in North-West Europe. It will have an LNG storage capacity of 80,000 cubic meters and will be capable of supply one LNG truck and two CNG trucks. It will also have the capability to supply CNG to trailers for delivery to other stations operated by Drive Systems.

The project received funding from the EU through its Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program.

Speaking of the support Drive Systems director Philippe Desrumaux, “This support was very welcome, as the number of vehicles on LNG or CNG is still low, for now. This initiative shows the commitment of the European Commission to roll out alternative fuel infrastructure along the main corridors.”

Belgian transport company Ninatrans will be the launching customer of the facility. Ninatrans is aiming to decarbonize its activities and has ordered 10 additional LNG trucks with more new orders in the pipeline as it looks to replace the older diesel trucks.

The facility is planned to be inaugurated in the first quarter of 2019.