Texas Railroad Commissioner David Porter has again touted the advancement of natural gas as a transportation fuel in the state, having announced that Texas fleets are purchasing natural gas to power their vehicles in record numbers.
Citing new statistics from the state comptroller's office, Porter made the announcement during his Fort Worth Texas Natural Gas Workshop, hosted by the TCU Energy Institute last week. He reported tax revenue from sales of compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) motor fuel totaled $3,033,600 as of May 31 for fiscal-year (FY) 2015.
“Natural gas vehicles are becoming mainstream faster than expected. These collections are nearly double the amount collected last year at this time,” explained Porter. “At 15 cents per gallon equivalent, $3,033,600 of motor fuel tax equates to the sale of 20,224,000 gallon equivalents of natural gas.”
All told, Porter said Texas CNG and LNG sales increased 78% over FY 2014.
Porter also provided an update on the development of natural gas fueling stations in the state. In March, he and his office released a report revealing that the state was home to 130 operating natural gas stations, a 25% jump from September 2014.
According to Porter, there are now seven additional natural gas stations online and 44 more are slated to be operational in the next 12 to 18 months.
He said these figures reflect “how much progress industry has made in creating the infrastructure needed for fleet operators to take advantage of the cost savings and energy-security benefits of this abundant, domestic fuel.”
Porter launched his Texas Natural Gas Initiative in 2013 to encourage the adoption of natural gas fuel in the transportation and exploration and production sectors. Last week's workshop in Fort Worth was the second in his series of statewide events this year. The final 2015 workshop will be held on Aug. 12 in Spring, Texas.
