Buses filling up the CNG at a station in Yangon. A plan is under way to add 10 new filling stations by the end of 2007, bringing the total number in Myanmar’s most populous city to 37. Pic: Lwin Maung Maung

THE Ministry of Energy has announced that it is planning to upgrade capacity to fill Yangon’s growing need for compressed natural gas (CNG) fuel.

In addition to an ambitious plan to add 10 new filling stations by the end of 2007, bringing the total number in Myanmar’s most populous city to 37, renovations to existing stations have been announced that will allow more cars to fill simultaneously.

And the ministry is starting at the beginning: CNG Station 1 and 2 will be upgraded to allow four cars to fill up at the same time – something that is likely to put smiles on motorists’ dials.

Pearl, Kyeikkaloe and Yoegyi (Hlaing Tharyar 2) CNG stations are already able to fill eight cars simultaneously.

As of July 23, the number of CNG-powered cars in Myanmar was around 14,000, including about 13,500 in Yangon, according to Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise.

U Aung Myint Thein, director of Asia Value Company, said people are queuing up to get their vehicles converted to the cheaper fuel.

“The daily fuel cost is around K700 and a 70 litre cylinder of CNG is equivalent to 4 gallons (about 18 litres) of petroleum,” he said.

Obviously those in the transport business stand to make the most from this situation, particularly taxi drivers, he said.

“Taxi drivers who have CNG-powered cars do not need to worry about picking up a passenger for return trips; they can drop someone off somewhere and do not immediately need another customer,” he said.

He estimated that about 1000 vehicles were being converted to CNG every month.

Daw Moe Moh Aung, business development manager for Lynx Company, a CNG conversion company in Yangon, said the company offers several different sizes of fuel tanks for customers to choose from.

“We install cylinders with capacities of 70, 65, 60 and 50 litres; trucks normally use 50 litre cylinders but taxis prefer those of 70 or 65 litres.”

Until recently it took one full day to convert a petrol powered car to but that has been reduced to only four hours now, she said.

Cars equipped with diesel engines are another story altogether, they require about three days to convert and will then only be able to run on CNG, whereas petrol/CNG cars can run on either fuel.

Daw Moe Moh Aung said: “We use CNG kits which come from Argentina that come with an International Standard Organisation (ISO) certificate. And we are also an ISO-certified company.”

CNG kits imported from China, Italy and Argentina are available.
Potential customers should do their math before jumping into a CNG conversion because the job costs between K1.2 to K1.4 million.

Daw Moe Moh Aung said Lynx Company can convert up to 200 vehicles a month and currently averages about 150 a month.

“I expect the future prospects of CNG to be good; we have enough natural gas for the next 20 years,” Daw Moe Moh Aung said.

“The government has just opened a station in Mandalay too,” she said.
U Chan Min Oo, a Lynx service engineer, said owners of CNG cars need to be vigilant about maintaining the fuel storage and delivery components in their cars or risk serious problems.

“Users must be aware of the problems that can occur with CNG. They need to have the CNG cylinders carefully checked every five years for any deterioration and the gas pipes should be changed every year,” he said.

Customers who go to Asia Value are given a small fire extinguisher as a free gift when they convert their vehicle. And the first time a car or truck is filled up with CNG the company checks to make sure no gas is leaking out.

Customers should also check the work carefully because while both Asia Value and Lynx Company both offer free servicing for one year, they are less generous with replacing parts.

“We offer free service for one year to our customers but if they want to upgrade their cylinders or fix broken parts, they will have to pay extra charges,” Daw Moe Moh Aung said.

Lynx Company offers a better deal but buyers should still be careful.
“If any parts break within the first month, we will change it for free, provided it is not the user’s fault,” he said.

“In the past, owners of diesel-powered cars did not want to change to CNG but what I find now is that lots of people do want to swap over,” he said.
“We can say that the CNG conversion rate is quite high now.”