Apr. 24--ELK CITY -- Houston-based Apache Corp. celebrated Earth Day this week in Elk City by opening the company's first compressed natural gas refueling station, which will be used to refuel the company's local field vehicles.

Apache is considering opening similar filling stations in Woodward and Chickasha, where the company also has substantial fleets, said Britt Dearman, Apache's manager of special projects.

Apache chose the western Oklahoma town of Elk City for its first station rather than someplace in Texas because Oklahoma has good financial incentives for building compressed natural gas stations and converting vehicles, said Bill Mintz, Apache spokesman.

Such state incentives are lacking in Texas, he said.

"With many people focused on Earth Day and ways to improve the environment, we are demonstrating that there is an abundant resource in this country -- natural gas -- that can provide a cost- effective means to reduce America's dependence on imported oil and its emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants," said G. Steven Farris, Apache's chairman and chief executive officer.

Burning its own gas Natural gas produced by the company's wells in western Oklahoma's Anadarko Basin will provide fuel for the station.

Dearman said Oklahoma Natural Gas Co. assisted by building a mile long, 4-inch diameter pipeline from Apache's wells to the refueling station and by helping with tariffs.

The station has the capacity to refuel 100 vehicles a day and initially will be used to fuel more than 40 Apache field vehicles that are being converted to run on compressed natural gas, he said.

Tulsa Gas Technologies Inc. assisted in building the station and OEM Systems Inc. of Okarche is converting Apache's trucks to run on natural gas, he said.

"This is a small step," Farris said. "Apache is exploring ways to share the excess capacity at the Elk City refueling facility with other CNG fleet operators and build additional refueling facilities at other company locations."

Anywhere Apache opens a station, it likely will be looking for fleet partners, Dearman said.

No public access Mintz said Apache is not involved in retail sales so there are some obstacles that prevent opening the Elk City station to the general public.

Apache is converting its vehicles at a cost of about $10,000 each, Mintz said. The station cost about $430,000, he said.

There are about 120,000 CNG vehicles that currently travel U.S. streets and highways, according to Natural Gas Vehicles for America, a trade group.

There are about 1,100 compressed natural gas refueling stations, including about 30 public stations in Oklahoma.

The numbers are small compared with the 120,000 gasoline filling stations in the nation that provide fuel for about 250 million cars and light trucks.

Toolbar sponsored by: David Stanley Ford

-----

To see more of The Oklahoman, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.newsok.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:APA,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.