Petrol price rumours spark C.N.G. interest

Press, 24 July 1984, Page 29

Petrol price rumours spark C.N.G. interest

Auckland, Prospects of a big rise in petrol prices after the devaluation have caused an upsurge of people wanting to convert their cars to run on compressed natural gas. The present petrol price of 71c a litre is expected to rise up to 8c in the next few weeks to cover the higher imported price of oil, with a further increase likely after the latest three-month price freeze ends in October.

The price for covering an equivalent distance on compressed natural gas is 35c a litre, while liquid petroleum gas costs 52c a litre. Already, even before petrol goes up, inquiries about converting cars to run on gas have trebled at one Auckland company, Max

Kime Automotive. The proprietor, Mr Kime, said conversions had fallen off badly in the first four months of this year, but now he expected “a boom time.” Mr Norman Bennett, of another Auckland company, Gas Conversions, Ltd, said he had been inundated with orders since the devaluation. “We have never been booked further ahead,” he said. Mr Bennett, who is a member of the Energy Research and Development Committee and the Alternative Fuels Association, said he believed the new Labour Government might decide to increase petrol prices more in areas served by C.N.G. pipelines, while holding the price in the South Island.

Pipelines now serve the whole west coast of the North Island from Wellington to Whangarei, plus the Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay, with an extension to Gisborne under construction. The South Island relies at present on L.P.G. supplies by tanker. Christchurch conversion contractors also report a surge of orders for L.P.G. conversions since the devaluation. Conversions to C.N.G. cost about $1250 for a four-cylin-der car or $1450 for a sixcylinder vehicle, while conversions to L.P.G. cost between $1450 and $lBOO. . A tank of L.P.G. will go about the same distance as a tank of petrol, whereas a tank of C.N.G. will go only about half that distance.