Taxis in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province in central China, will become enviromentally friendly next year, when they start to use natural gas.

The Zhongyuan Oilfield and the city's administrative bureau of passenger transportation has recently signed an agreement on building five natural gas stations in the city next year to allow taxis to use natural gas.

The project will be extend to buses and other public vehicles in the city, following the first testing program on taxis.

Known as the "green" fuel of automobiles, natural gas emits almost no lead pollution. Some experts say that the contents of hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and other pollutants in the emission of natural gas-fueled automobiles are 84-96 percent less than those of gasoline-generated ones. The adoption of natural gas to replace gasoline will undoubtedly help curb air pollution.

The Zhongyuan oilfield is abundantly rich in natural gas reserves. It has developed a comprehensive system to exploit, process and transport natural gas and byproducts. The oilfield also leads the country in the research and development of automobile technology in China.