NGVAmerica News Week in Review: August 17, 2015

• 2015 North American NGV Conference & Expo Four Weeks Away!
• Only Three Speaking Slots Remain for “Meet the Vendor” Presentations
• IRS Notice 2015-56 Deductibility of Alternative Fuel Tax Credits
• Renamed Rock Region METRO Deploys 15 New CNG Transit Buses
• American Power Group Expands “Fueled By Flare” Initiative
• OnCue Express Announces Opening of Two New CNG Stations
• TruStar Energy Celebrates Grand Opening of CNG Energy Fueling Station
• U.S. Gain Partners with O’Ring to Open New CNG Station in Pennsylvania
• New Partnership Continues to Expand North American CNG Fueling Network
• Totem Ocean Trailer Express Announces Shipyard for Conversion to Natural Gas

 

2015 North American NGV Conference & Expo Four Weeks Away!

August 17, 2015

The 2015 North American NGV Conference & Expo at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado, on September 15–17 is only one month away.

The North American NGV Conference and Expo is the largest NGV-centric event in North America, and show registrations are on track to be even higher this year than last year.  Exhibit and sponsorship package sales are doing well and NGVAmerica encourages members, past participants, and all other interested parties to continue to include this show in their marketing plans for this year.  A special thank you to all members supporting this endeavor and for demonstrating to attending conference registrants—including interested new fleet managers and fueling retailers—that the NGV industry is vibrant.  And given the current market conditions, NGVAmerica believes that bringing members, customers and the greater industry together for a focused dialogue is more important than ever.

Do you plan to exhibit?  NGVAmerica has several dedicated telemarketers calling prospective attendees that will be your potential customers.  The expo floor plan has space available, and all should act quickly to get the best possible space location by contacting Sebastien David toll free at 844.620.3494 or ngv@thecwcgroup.com.

Have you registered yet?  The opening day includes the Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, in addition to industry heavyweights and advocates including Andrew Littlefair (Clean Energy), David McCurdy (AGA), Marty Durbin (ANGA), Chip Rimer (Noble Energy), General Michael Hagee (Retired – US Marine Corps), Mike Whitlatch (UPS) and Matt Godlewski (NGVAmerica).  The plenary is preceded by NGVAmerica’s annual board & members’ meeting in the morning which is followed by the 23rd Annual NGV Achievement Awards presented during lunch and includes guest speaker Sarah Charbonnet Landry (COGA). Please view the frequently updated conference schedule for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to see breakout session topics & speakers, social events, expo hall hours, etc.

NGVAmerica’s Director, Government Affairs Paul Kerkhoven has organized a golf outing on the day prior to the conference, Monday, September 14. Reservations are filling quickly and only eleven openings remain.

Whether exhibiting or attending, make your reservations now as the conference is almost here. Please note that members get substantial discounts; contact CWC or Tom Sheehan for these special price links.

 

IRS Notice 2015-56 Deductibility of Alternative Fuel Tax Credits

August 17, 2015

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in Notice 2015-56 provides guidance for taxpayers on the proper treatment of deductions relating to tax credit claims for sales or use of alternative fuel.  The Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2014 (enacted December 19, 2014) made the $0.50 alternative fuel credit retroactive for calendar year 2014. In January 2015, the IRS issued guidance in Notice 2015-3 requiring that all claims relating to the alternative fuel credits must be filed using Form 8849 and that these claims must be submitted by August 8, 2015.  The notice issued this week indicates that taxpayers must treat the tax payments as if they had offset their tax liability in 2014 even though under notice 2015-3 the 2014 claims were required to be taken as a single payment and not as an offset for 2014 tax liability.  In previous years, the normal practice was to claim the credit first as an excise tax offset against the federal excise tax on CNG (18.3 cents) or LNG (24.3 cents) and then to claim any excess credit as a payment.  The notice indicates that taxpayers must reduce their “excise tax liability for each calendar quarter during the 2014 calendar year by its alternative fuel credit attributable to alternative fuels sold or used during the calendar quarter.”  Thus, they must treat the credits as if they had been taken against 2014 tax liability. Companies who have claimed the fuel credit for 2014 activities relating to natural gas and who paid excise tax on natural gas for 2014 activities should review the notice with tax counsel and determine how to proceed.  The full notice is available on the IRS website.

 

Only Three Speaking Slots Remain for “Meet the Vendor” Presentations

August 17, 2015

NGVAmerica has announced that it will reintroduce a repackaged version of the popular Market Development Peer Exchange at the upcoming 2015 North America Natural Gas Vehicle Conference & Exposition in Denver, Colorado, on Thursday, September 17 from 10:45 a.m. to 12:00 noon. The Peer Exchange has been renamed Inside Track: Meet the Vendors! and will provide all conference registrants with a venue to hear rapid fire mini-briefings from NGVAmerica members. The format will allow 18 members approximately five minutes to introduce—with or without PowerPoint presentations—their technologies and services to audience participants. This venue is likened to “speed dating,” serving as a fast-paced compilation of NGV-specific topics of interest with the desired outcome to educate and generate additional opportunities of increased foot traffic to members’ exhibition space on the show floor. Inside Track: Meet the Vendors! is a first-come, first-served opportunity, and limited time for this venue dictates that presenters must be exhibiting members.

Please contact Tom Sheehan immediately to receive your time slot at 207.925.1136 or tsheehan@ngvamerica.com. A signed exhibition contract is required to receive a chance for this presentation opportunity.

 

Renamed Rock Region METRO Deploys 15 New CNG Transit Buses

August 11, 2015

The Central Arkansas Transit Authority officially transitioned to its new name, Rock Region METRO. The Rock Region METRO brand is one of the major recent outcomes of the Move Central Arkansas project, a comprehensive planning effort involving a variety of stakeholders in public transit. The new brand will support a service plan recently adopted by the Rock Region METRO board of directors.

“It’s an exciting time for Rock Region METRO,” said Allie Freeman, board chairman, “We want our fellow Arkansans to get excited about immediate and future plans we have for our public transit system.”

The most visible aspect of the rebranding initiative can be seen on the fleet’s 15 new CNG buses, which will started service August 12. Older vehicles in the fleet will be rotated out of service now through March and painted to match the brand’s new look. By the end of 2025, the entire Rock Region METRO heavy-duty bus fleet will be replaced with the new CNG-fueled bus models.

 

American Power Group Expands “Fueled By Flare” Initiative

August 13, 2015

American Power Group has signed a license agreement with Trident Resources for the exclusive worldwide right to commercialize Trident’s proprietary Natural Gas Liquid (“NGL”) process technology. In addition, APG purchased all of Trident’s operating assets including two existing mobile NGL operating systems currently servicing remote or stranded well-sites for one of the top five E&P companies in the Bakken region.

APG has also secured a verbal commitment for $3.25 million of additional project lease financing to immediately build two additional NGL operating systems. These next generation NGL systems will include the first NGL system with the capability to convert the unconventional Bakken flared gas into a premium quality natural gas for all local APG dual fuel stationary and vehicular applications.

Remote and stranded well sites are under increasing regulatory requirements to either capture and liquefy the flared gas into NGL or significantly reduce oil output. In the Bakken, there are over 2,500 well sites classified as remote or stranded. In North America, there are thousands more well sites that have similar classification where pipeline access will never be logistically or economically feasible. An average remote or stranded well site producing one to two million cubic feet of flared gas per day has the capacity to produce several million gallons of NGL and over a million equivalent diesel gallons of natural gas on an annual basis.

Trident has developed and exclusively licensed to APG their standard NGL processing configuration as well as their latest proprietary NGL compression/refrigeration process to meet the highest Bakken regulatory capture rate of 90 percent. More importantly, the new NGL process will be able to produce natural gas capable of being used for both stationary and vehicular APG dual fuel applications.

The Trident modular NGL system is constructed on mobile skids and trailers for scalability and ease of transfer from site to site to optimize E&P flare capture rates. APG has created a Trident NGL Services Division that will launch in the Bakken region with expectations of expanding our Flare to Fuel capabilities to other oil and gas fields in North America and, eventually, other regions of the world.

 

OnCue Express Announces Opening of Two New CNG Stations

August 11, 2015

OnCue Express announced the opening of two new CNG stations, with two additional stations to open later this fall. On Monday, OnCue opened its first of four new CNG stations scheduled for 2015. The station, which is integrated within a convenience store, is located in Edmond, Oklahoma, and is capable of delivering up to 10 GGE per minute.

OnCue also opened another heavy-duty CNG station in Hennessey, Oklahoma. The station is designed for semi-trucks and hosts four heavy duty lanes, two light duty lanes, and is capable of delivering 12 GGE per minute directly off the compressor. This site also boasts a large turning radius, designed for semis or any other type of CNG vehicle to access any dispenser.

“These two new stations bring the OnCue CNG infrastructure total to 18 active stations,” said Scott Minton, CNG Market Development Manager. “OnCue currently has seven additional locations in active planning phases, with two of those preparing to open later this year.”

Other CNG locations to open later this year include the OnCue Express Truck Stop on I-35 at the Billings exit as well as the new OnCue Express convenience store at I-240 in Oklahoma City.

 

TruStar Energy Celebrates Grand Opening of CNG Energy Fueling Station

August 14, 2015

TruStar Energy celebrated the grand opening of CNG Energy’s public natural gas fueling station in Liberal, Kansas. TruStar Energy was contracted to build the station earlier this year with the specific goal of supporting the growing need for CNG fuel for fleets operating out of Liberal and the surrounding Southwest Kansas area and Oklahoma Panhandle. TruStar Energy then worked with Black Hills Energy to make the station a reality.

The station features two covered and lighted fueling islands that can accommodate both large commercial vehicles, like the 12 tractors owned by CNG Energy, as well as smaller private vehicles. This was something that went into the planning of the station from the very beginning.

“Our first thought was to develop a private station to support our transport operation,” said CNG Energy’s Managing Member, Rocky Ormiston, “but we realized that other fleets would just go somewhere else when we had the capacity to provide fuel to them. We felt that it was important to provide the public with a place to fuel as well.”

Ormiston said the station will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and accepts most major credit cards as well as commercial fleet fueling cards.

 

U.S. Gain Partners with O’Ring to Open New CNG Station in Pennsylvania

August 11, 2015

U.S. Gain announced it has partnered with “O” Ring CNG Fuel Systems to open a new CNG station in DuBois, Pennsylvania. The station will be branded as “O” Ring CNG/GAIN Clean Fuel and will be included in GAIN Clean Fuel’s nationwide infrastructure of CNG stations. The station will provide fleets and the general public with access to CNG.

“We’ve established a great working relationship with “O” Ring over the last year and we’re excited about continuing our collaboration with this latest site,” said Bill Renz, general manager for U.S. Gain.

 

New Partnership Continues to Expand North American CNG Fueling Network

August 7, 2015

U.S. Gain is partnering with Great River Energy to co-locate three GAIN Clean Fuel CNG stations with Great River Energy’s CNG stations. Two of the stations will be co-located at existing Great River Energy CNG locations, one in West Burlington, Iowa, and the other in Wood River, Illinois. In addition to adding the GAIN Clean Fuel brand, these two facilities will be converted to provide access for other carriers and the general public. The third GAIN Clean Fuel / Great River Energy CNG facility will be constructed in Easton, Pennsylvania, in 2016 and will also be publically accessible.

The new partnership will fuel W.W. Transport’s fleet of CNG trucks and also link these three locations with U.S. Gain’s network of GAIN Clean Fuel stations throughout North America.

“We’re excited to be partnering with such a well-respected international brand,” said Great River Energy President Kyle Weuve. “Being linked to the GAIN Clean Fuel network provides great opportunities and we look to continue to build on our partnership moving forward.”

W.W. Transport currently has a fleet of 80 trucks operating on CNG with plans to expand to 120 trucks by the end of year.

 

Totem Ocean Trailer Express Announces Shipyard for Conversion to Natural Gas

August 4, 2015

Totem Ocean Trailer Express announced that it has signed a contract with Keppel Shipyard for the conversion of the Midnight Sun to dual fuel LNG propulsion. This is the world’s first major conversion of a large RO/RO vessel to LNG. The work will begin in December and is expected to be completed in 90 days.

The conversion will require the removal and replacement of the four engines, which will add nearly 78,000 cu. ft. of LNG capacity along with the addition of nearly 30 miles of new cabling.

Puget Sound Energy, in partnership with Totem Ocean and the Port of Tacoma, has plans to construct an LNG liquefaction terminal at the Port that will serve Totem Ocean, residents of Puget Sound and the broader transportation industry in the Pacific Northwest. This facility is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2018.

In the short term, TOTE and its partner WesPac are building North America’s first LNG bunker barge to deliver fuel to the ships once converted. Once complete, the Midnight Sun will emit fewer air and greenhouse gas emissions. Her sister ship, the North Star, is expected to be converted in 2016 or 2017.