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GRAPEVINE, Texas — The cost differential between natural gas powered trucks and their diesel versions is fast dissolving and will soon disappear, according to investor T. Boone Pickens.

Ryder System has launched a new lease program that offers private companies the option to incorporate alternative fuel vehicles into their fleets.

Global petroleum provider Shell Oil Co. unveiled a major push to promote natural gas in North American freight transportation, saying that it aims to produce liquefied natural gas suitable for commercial vehicles in a plant near Calgary, Alberta, by 2013.

Ryder System and Staples Inc. will add 10 heavy duty compressed natural gas tractors to Ryder’s fleet serving the office-products retailer.

Sales of natural-gas-powered trucks will grow faster than the rest of the North American market, hitting almost 30,000 units by 2017, consulting firm Frost & Sullivan said.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which provides natural gas fueling for the trucking industry, reported a loss for its second quarter but said revenue rose.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp. received a $150 million cash infusion last week to help it build an extensive nationwide network of 150 natural-gas truck-fueling stations.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. said it is investing $150 million in Clean Energy Fuels Corp. to develop about 150 natural gas fueling stations for heavy-duty trucks at truck stops along U.S. interstate highways.