another chevron CNG station in california crops up in farm country

Last month, Chevron opened another retail compressed natural gas (CNG) station in California.

The fueling site—located in Visalia, a city in the central part of the state where agriculture predominates—increases the availability of lower carbon fuels for use in heavy-duty vehicles.

Compared to conventional diesel, CNG has several advantages:

• Lower price, and prices can be set for long-term contracts.
• Lower carbon intensity based on reduced emissions across its production life cycle.
• Lower engine emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.

CNG is a readily available, commercially proven, lower carbon alternative to gasoline and diesel. It is generated by compressing natural gas (methane) down to less than 1% of its volume. Traditionally, it has been extracted from fossil sources. More recently, some natural gas is being produced from renewable sources. This variety is called renewable natural gas (RNG), and it is fully interchangeable with conventional natural gas. RNG is pipeline-quality and can be injected into pipelines for transmission and distribution alongside conventional natural gas.

RNG is sourced from waste streams of organic matter like cow manure, food waste and landfill waste. As these wastes decompose naturally, they release methane. The methane can be captured and processed to make RNG that has potential as lower carbon transportation fuel on a life cycle basis.

As part of supplying CNG, Chevron works with dairy farmers, waste management companies and other third parties to capture existing methane from their operations. After treatment, the RNG is placed into the natural gas network.

Our objective is to grow our RNG value chain, from production to distribution. To that end, we are committed to producing 40,000 MMBtu/d of RNG by 2030.

The Visalia station is the next step toward that goal and our previously announced plan to open more than 30 Chevron-branded CNG stations in California by 2025.

“Chevron has seen strong demand for our CNG fuel offering from new and existing customers,” said Nuray Elci, Chevron's general manager for Renewables. “Chevron’s farm-to-fuel offerings will help our customers meet their lower carbon goals.”

Updated 4/27/2023: This story has been edited for clarity.