Algeria’s Ministry of Energy and Transport has signed an agreement to equip 50,000 taxis with LPG kits, which is “an opportunity never granted in Arab or even European countries,” according to the Minister of Energy Mustapha Guitouni.

With Autogas powered taxis, the government aims to stop the rise in the fare of this public transport and to reduce gasoline importation.

Moreover, Guitouni stated the country consumes more than 15 million tonnes of gasoline while domestic production is 11.5 million tonnes, “which requires us to import 3.5 million tonnes,” he added.

The minister also stated that so far 163,000 vehicles have been converted to Autogas throughout the country since the programme was launched in 2005. More, than 60,000 vehicles were converted to LPG in 2017, compared to 43,000 units in 2016.

The government is also targeting 500,000 Autogas vehicles by 2021 and an instruction has been given to energy company Naftal to draw up a precise national plan to expand the fleet running on LPG. For more information, please check this link.