BBrazilian gas company Edge, a unit of Compass, has signed a liquefied natural gas supply contract with Nimofast for a new road transport platform using China's JAC Motors gas trucks.

The 10-year deal, announced on Wednesday, marks Edge's first "off-grid" gas contract to the heavy transport sector, which is heavily dependent on diesel and seeking ways to decarbonize operations.

Nimofast expects 8 billion reais ($1.53 billion) in commitments over 10 years for fleet acquisition, leasing, fuel and operations, the company told Reuters.

Operations will start this year with 60 JAC Motors trucks, and rise to 160 by the first quarter of 2027, with a goal of 2,000 trucks within 24 months.

At full scale with 2,000 trucks, the project is expected to avoid approximately 80,000 tons of CO₂ annually.

Edge will supply LNG from its Santos Regasification Terminal, which has capacity of 14 million cubic meters/day and storage of 173,000 cubic meters.

Biomethane from Edge's Paulinia plant will be incorporated into the LNG supply.

Compass is majority-owned by Cosan.

($1 = 5.2145 reais)