Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE -1.75%) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, IMW Industries, has struck a deal to provide China Gas with up to 416 natural gas compressors and accompanying technologies. China Gas expects to construct up to 310 compressed natural gas stations for public access. The potential value of the three-year agreement is roughly $167 million. IMW has already outfitted 124 stations in China, manufacturing all of the equipment at its facility in Suzhou-Taicang.
China Gas has already secured financing for the deal from Export Development Canada. It expects to to draw upon that agreement as needed, and has already received $5 million to purchase 29 compressors for the company's first 19 stations.
Clean Energy CEO Andrew Littlefair is encouraged by China's willingness to embrace natural gas as a transportation fuel:
China has grasped the potential of natural gas as an alternative to gasoline and diesel fuel and is aggressively building the necessary infrastructure to realize this potential. In the coming years, China Gas and its partners plan to construct the equivalent of over half of all the public access CNG stations currently available in the United States -- significant for our companies and the future of cleaner transportation in China.
Clean Energy Fuels is the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America, while IMW Industries is the largest sole manufacturer of non-lubricated natural gas compressors in the world.
