Bauer has successfully set up CNG distribution facilities at Adnoc’s fuel retail stations

MUNICH-BASED Bauer Kompressoren, a Bauer Group company will be promoting the industrial compressors and compressed natural gas (CNG) stations at the forthcoming Adipec 2012.

The company is a leading manufacturer of high-pressure compressors and complete compressing systems for air and gas. It is exhibiting at stand 7030A.

Bauer Kompressoren can look back on more than a century of machine-building experience. Johann Bauer, blacksmith in Arnsdorf (Bavaria), established “Agricultural Machines Works” in 1888. In 1946, the Bauer Company started building compressors. Founded by Hans Bauer, the company has since then sold more than 750.000 units of piston and screw compressors, worldwide. In 1975, the son Heinz Bauer joined the company and until recently ran it as its owner and CEO. In the middle of the 1980s, the company started to develop complete compressed natural gas (CNG) refuelling stations and is today one of the leading producers worldwide.

Today, Bauer is firmly established as market leader in the high pressure sector. “We pride ourselves on having contributed more to the development of breathing air compressors than any other company,” says Colin Fountain, managing director. The $400 million group employs about 1,100 people in 17 international subsidiaries and 15 branch offices. It has more than 600 sales partners and service points.

The facility of Bauer Kompressoren GCC – the UAE subsidiary of the German major – was opened in January 2005 in Jebel Ali Free Zone to service the Gulf and the Middle East region. “We have long been recognised as the world leader in the manufacture of high pressure compressors, and the Jebel Ali unit was established to support the existing business in the region. A full inventory of compressors and spare parts are available from stock, along with breathing air accessories such as filling panels, maintenance monitors and air purity test kits. Bauer trained technicians are also available to service equipment at a site or at our workshop at competitive rates,” adds Fountain.

Abdul Aziz Al Ameri, Gasco’s senior vice
president-major projects and Philipp Bayat,
CEO of Bauer Group, sign a new agreement
for the Phase II of the CNG project

In addition to the breathing air compressors, Bauer offers a range of industrial compressors for air, helium, and nitrogen supported from its Jebel Ali facility, with installation, commissioning, training and long term maintenance contracts all available from Bauer employed engineers and technicians. Furthermore, compressors and ancillary equipment for CNG for Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) are supported from its Abu Dhabi centre.

In 2008, Bauer Kompressoren was awarded the project by Adnoc to set up compressed natural gas (CNG) distribution facilities at its fuel retail stations, a project which was a high priority for the government of Abu Dhabi.

This was the first time that such a project had been initiated in the UAE as part of Abu Dhabi’s Economic Vision 2030 to reduce carbon emissions. About 25 per cent of government vehicles are expected to run on low-emissions natural gas.

Bauer Kompressoren considered the difficult climate conditions with high temperatures and high humidity and implemented a worldwide unique construction – an air conditioned closed container system. The establishment of a distribution network of “mother-stations” and “daughter-stations” guarantees the supply of CNG fuel to entire UAE, independent of the Emirates gas-pipeline network, says the company.

To better service the CNG stations, Bauer Kompressoren, this year opened a new branch office in Mussafah, Abu Dhabi. “We are also in the process of expanding the workshop and office facilities in our Jebel Ali facility,” adds Fountain.

The first phase of the project is already delivered and installed, while the stations of the second phase are already in the stage of final assembly.

“Thanks to Bauer Kompressoren’s high quality standards in the choice of the raw materials, guaranteed by material controls and batch traceability, the project guarantees unbeatable safety of the CNG systems,” says Fountain.

“In cooperation with the German TÜV and Adnoc, Bauer helped to establish the highest safety standards worldwide in the UAE, topping even the German safety standards,” he adds.

The company intends to capitalise on the projected rise in demand for CNG throughout the Middle East, with particular reference to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“The region has very large natural gas reserves. The prospects for success of similar projects are especially valid for the public, commercial and communal transport, besides the advantages for the environment,” says Fountain.

Especially the system of CNG supply of mother-daughter-stations is suitable for the whole Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region as it can be applied in every region independently of the pipeline grid, he adds.