Following a review of a six-year-old scheme that provided a $500 subsidy, Premier Alan Carpenter said the Government would give $1000 towards each LPG conversion for at least the next four years.
The subsidy can be used either to convert an existing vehicle or to purchase a new vehicle fitted with an LPG system. LPG is substantially cheaper than petrol and produces 20% less greenhouse gases.
The Sunday Times newspaper reported Carpenter as saying that the potential savings from using LPG were growing.
“A major issue in our economy is the price of petrol,” Carpenter said.
“We have an alternative [fuel] in LPG from our own gas reserves. We have abundant volumes of gas here in WA and we’d be crazy not to use it.”
Carpenter linked the growing importance of LPG with his call for reserving up to 20% of WA gas for domestic use.
A Woodside Petroleum spokesman told PetroleumNews.net that about 600,000 tonnes of LPG were produced in the state each year.
The bulk of the LPG – which is propane, butane or a mix of both – is stripped from the gas stream before natural gas is liquefied to produce LNG and is sold separately from the LNG. Unlike the LNG, the LPG is sold on the domestic and international markets.
He said LPG and methane were two distinct products and it was not clear whether the Government’s gas reservation policy referred to both types of natural gas.
