Premium petrol to remain ethanol-free; no plans to restore E0 or E10 petrol: Govt

Premium petrol sold across India by the state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) will continue to be supplied without any ethanol blending, said the government in Parliament. Also, the government has reiterated that there is no decision to increase ethanol blending in petrol beyond 20%. Further, the government stated that there is no proposal to restore the supply of E0 or E10 petrol.

The premium petrol grades, which include XP100 sold by the IOCL, poWer100 from HPCL and Speed100 sold by BPCL, are not blended with ethanol. These are niche fuels containing specialised performance-enhancing additives and account for only about 0.5% of total petrol sales across the country. These grades of petrol cost around ₹160 per litre compared to ₹102.12 a litre for normal petrol, which contains 20% ethanol.

In a written response to questions in the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Suresh Gopi, said that the premium petrol from all the state-run fuel retailers will remain ethanol-free. He also said that any decision to raise ethanol blending beyond 20% will be taken only after detailed scientific and technical studies and consultations with automobile manufacturers, oil marketing companies and research institutions.

In his response to the questions in Lok Sabha, Gopi said that the government has not received any widespread or substantiated complaints from vehicle manufacturers, automobile associations or consumer organisations regarding E20 fuel. Laboratory studies, field trials and operational data showed no widespread adverse impact on engine durability, performance or vehicle life. The minister said that more than 20 crore two-wheelers and over 3 crore petrol cars have been operating on higher ethanol blends without verified evidence of widespread engine failures attributable to ethanol blending.

The government also said there was no proposal to revert to E0 or E10 petrol from current E20, citing the logistical costs of maintaining parallel nationwide fuel supply chains and its objective of transitioning to cleaner fuels. "Having been scientifically validated and accepted by the automobile industry after extensive testing, there is no proposal to revert to E0/E10 petrol," Gopi said, further adding, “Maintaining parallel nationwide supply chains for E0, E10 and E20 petrol across more than one lakh retail outlets would significantly increase logistics complexity, inventory and handling costs."

Meanwhile, several MPs on Thursday questioned top government officials over the rise in problems in vehicles due to the use of E20 petrol and asked what the government was doing about it. PTI has reported the officials told the MPs during a department-related meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture that even though ethanol-blended fuel has been used for several years now, the problems in vehicles are a recent phenomenon.

When asked what they were doing to check the problem, the officials said tests were underway to ascertain the reason behind the rise in issues due to the use of E20 fuel. The officials reportedly told the panel that the government had already started ethanol-blended fuel to the extent of 19.2% in 2022, which went up to 20% only recently.

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