Few companies are operating retail natural-gas fueling stations across the U.S. these days. However, the prospect of many years of cheap natural gas is spurring a small construction boom to build out the country's so-called "natural-gas highway."
Most of the stations today are add-ons to existing gas and diesel filling stations. "We have about 300 stations today, mostly CNG [compressed natural gas], and are building about 70 LNG [liquified natural gas] stations in 2012 and about 80 in 2013. We are also building 50-plus CNG stations in 2012," says Bruce Russell, communications director for Seal Beach, Calif.-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. If demand surges, the work may expand to natural-gas stations built from scratch. "It remains to be seen," Russell says.