In an effort to develop natural gas a transportation fuel, Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) and GE (NYSE: GE) announced a collaboration to develop compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure transportation and home fueling solutions to the market.

The memorandum of understanding will seek to marry GE's global oil and gas technology portfolio with Chesapeake’s expertise in developing fueling solutions for natural gas vehicle (NGV) fueling stations to create modular and standardized CNG stations. These stations, which will be called "CNG In A Box," will begin to be delivered by GE in fall 2012.

Terms call for Peake Fuel Solutions, a Chesapeake Energy affiliate, to bring this technology to market with 250 such stations being prepared by GE. CNG In A Box will compress natural gas on-site at an industrial location or traditional automotive refilling station to turn it into CNG.

“Both GE and Chesapeake are known for taking on tough energy challenges and putting the best minds and technologies to work to develop solutions,” Aubrey K. McClendon, Chesapeake’s chief executive, said in a news statement. “The partnership announced between GE and Chesapeake’s affiliate, Peake Fuel Solutions, combines Chesapeake’s natural gas expertise with GE’s extensive global manufacturing capabilities and will bring transformative products to industries and individual consumers across the U.S. These products and services will allow customers to enjoy the clear advantages of clean, affordable and abundant American natural gas at about half the cost of gasoline.”

“GE is fundamentally committed to natural gas -- our technologies help extract it, move it and turn it into power, whether it’s highly efficient gas turbines delivering electricity at the utility scale or, in the near future, a vehicle at a refueling station. What makes this project particularly exciting is that it paves the way to taking the immense reserves of natural gas being discovered in the U.S. and using them right here in the U.S. That paves the way for faster economic growth, energy security, more jobs and reduced environmental impact," said John Krenicki, GE Energy president and chief executive.