Irving Oil to offer natural gas at select locations

Truck drivers operating between Halifax and Montreal will soon have a new fuel option.

Irving Oil is adding liquefied natural gas to five of its Big Stop operations in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec, and construction will begin shortly.

“I think it’s great news,” says Dieppe truck driver Jean-Marc Picard. “We’ve been looking at natural gas to fuel vehicles for years now.”

It’s a first for Atlantic Canada, but there are a few filling stations that offer liquefied natural gas between Montreal and Mississauga.

Picard says the cost of a natural gas fuel truck is $65,000 to $90,000 more than a conventional diesel truck, but those costs are quickly paid off.

“The average payback is about two years,” says Picard. “Savings are around $40,000 a year.”

Jim Bracken, the president of Heritage Gas, says natural gas has been an alternative fuel source for vehicles for a long time, and that he has driven cars fueled by compressed natural gas in Ontario.

“It’s a market we see evolving here as well, because Natural Gas is available in Nova Scotia,” says Bracken.

Heritage Gas is not involved in the Irving Oil project, but Bracken says there is already interest in the Halifax area for fuelling large vehicles, such as garbage trucks and buses, with compressed natural gas.

“I know HRM, in this city, is looking at a study to start converting transit buses.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Rick Grant