banned their imports to support the local manufacturers. In addition CNG in Iran costs the least compared to the rest of the world. In 2012, the Iranian government announced a plan to replace the traditional CNG cylinders with Adsorbed Natural Gas (ANG) cylinders. Pakistan Pakistan was the country with the second largest fleet of NGV with a total of 2.85 million by the end of 2011. Most of the public transportation fleet has been converted to CNG. Also, in Pakistan and India, there have been on-going (last several years now) series of CNG fuel shortages which periodically waxes and wanes, getting the fuel into a tank can be a major problem. In July 2011, petrol usage shot up 15% from the month before due to shortages. Pakistan also has reported that over 2,000 people have died in 2011 from CNG cylinder blasts, because of low quality of cylinders there. In 2012, the Pakistani government decided to gradually phase out the CNG sector, beginning by banning any new conversions to CNG and banning the manufacturing of new NGV's. In addition, the government plans to close down all refueling stations in the next three years. Southeast Asia Thailand Thailand has for over a 15 years run autogas taxi cabs in Bangkok, though autos and buses had erroneously labelled NGV stickers on them, when in fact, were LPG fuelled. Given a generous natural gas supply but relying on imported oil, the Thailand government heavily promoted alternative fuels like LPG, natural gas and ethanol to replace gasoline beginning around 2003. Yet, NGV was very slow to take off due to cheaper LPG fuel, a pre-existing LPG fleet, and the low conversion cost of local LPG conversion shops compared to factory-installed CNG or conversion. A significant effort was made when the state-controlled oil company PTT PCL built a network of natural gas refueling stations. The cost of subsidy was estimated at US$150 million in 2008. As the price of oil climbed rapidly, it was estimated more than 40,000 new cars and trucks powered by natural gas were purchased in six months in 2008, including many buses. That year, about half of the taxi fleet in Bangkok used LPG and was prodded to convert to CNG, with little success. Since 2008, there has been government arm-twisting to switch from LPG to CNG, with a rollout of CNG stations near Bangkok around 2007 and then upcountry in