OSLO - Norway's oil and gas group Statoil will open the nation's first hydrogen filling point for cars at a petrol station in 2006, the company said on Thursday.
Statoil said it would offer the service at an existing Statoil service station adjacent to its headquarters in Stavanger on Norway's west coast.
"Plans call for natural gas to be available as an automotive fuel at the station next year, with hydrogen following in 2006," Statoil said in a statement.
Hydrogen is seen by many as a fuel of the future as the only emissions from cells is pure water. Hydrogen cars are being developed by the auto industry, but are still mainly experimental.
Hydrogen filling stations have already been opened in other countries including Iceland and Germany.
Statoil said that the project to offer natural gas and hydrogen filling for vehicles in Stavanger is in cooperation with gas supplier Lyse, an energy park, a research centre, a taxi company and local and regional authorities.
"The partners believe that hydrogen is likely to become an important commercial energy bearer in the transport sector," the partners said in a separate statement. "In that context, Lyse's network provides easy access and development opportunities."
The filling station will offer hydrogen produced by reforming natural gas, a Statoil official said.
"Natural gas -- the cleanest fossil fuel available -- could provide an important bridge to the 'hydrogen society'," the partners said.
Statoil said the pilot station will also be a step in a national initiative to create a "hydrogen road" from Stavanger to Oslo in the future. According to that project's website, car drivers will be able to fill up at hydrogen stations along that road by the end of the 2005-2008 period.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
