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        Will “Gasprom” press on private businessmen here as well ?

 
In August 2006 in Nizhny Novgorod – the capital of the Nizhegorodsky Region of Russia, stretched along the Volga river banks -  the first autogas refueling station  was built in the stile of “ Gazprom” Company. The Contractor General for this Project – Michael Kotsur  tells the correspondent from  « GasEnergoSet” the details of the Project. According to him, selling gas at the autogas market is very profitable today in Russia, as it costs almost twice less than petrol or diesel and the fluctuation of autogas fuel is much less as compared with traditional petrol fuels. Therefore it is very convenient for municipal transport companies to convert their  vehicles fleet  into autogas fuels and plan their fuel expenditure well in advance.

Prices of petrol jump upwards usually during spring, summer and autumn when price of gas remain stable. The latter becomes more costly only during winter, when more gas is exported to Europe. Besides there is a lot of  low quality petrol on the Russian market  today.  Therefore always high octane  autogas fuel is  preferable. Taking this into consideration even owners of  costly  imported cars with powerful engines  often convert their vehicles into autogas fuel because it proves to be a reliable high octane fuel that will not damage the engine of a prestigious car.

 Asked the question, if  “Gasprom” brand at the autogas refueling station makes it more popular with  car owners, Michael Kotsur answers in the affirmative, saying that after renovation and rebrending of autogas stations their  sales increased by 18% and the sales are still rising.

 Michail Kotsur revealed that the cost of  building a new refueling station is within the range  of  8 to 13 millions rubles ( 1 US dollar is about 23 rubles), with cost of renovation and rebranding of  existing stations  between 1,5 to 4 millions rubles ( including creation of new services – café, shops, etc. ).  Renovation and rebranding is envisaged for many old stations ( some of the built as early as  in 1953-1964 )  in a number of Russian regions and cities – Nizhny Novgorod and  Vladimir regions, Sochi, Orenburg and Tambov cities.