Government oil companies and Karnataka government are at loggerheads over E20 petrol. The Karnataka government had claimed that the ethanol content in petrol was more than the prescribed 20 percent limit. Government companies rejected it. Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation issued statements late on Friday evening saying that the state government's investigation was not conducted as per the statutory and technical procedure.
Karnataka Food, Civil Supplies and Legal Metrology Minister Rizwan Arshad had earlier claimed that the state's authorized laboratories have found ethanol content up to 31.2 percent in petrol samples. He called these results worrying. The companies say that this investigation conducted in October was not in accordance with the terms of the Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel Control Order, 2005 and Marketing Discipline Guidelines, 2024.
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Companies presented their figures
According to the companies, the samples were taken without the presence of their representatives. He said that in the quality check by the Center for High Technology of the Petroleum Ministry, 893 samples were taken from depots and retail outlets of 27 states and union territories. Ethanol was found in all within the prescribed limit of 19 to 21 percent. The companies said that 56 samples tested in Karnataka also met the standards. These included samples from different locations of the three companies. In these, ethanol ranged between 19 to 20 percent and the average was 19.3 percent.
Why are oil companies and Karnataka government at loggerheads?
Oil companies have sought complete sampling documents, outlet-wise laboratory reports and testing methodology from the state government. They have also sought access to counterpart samples, so that independent testing can be done in an authorized laboratory in the presence of representatives of the state government and companies. The companies also said that they are ready to cooperate in joint sampling and investigation as per the prescribed procedure.
According to Minister Rizwan Arshad, in the laboratory reports of 14 out of 63 petrol pumps, a maximum of 31.2 percent ethanol was found at some Indian Oil pumps and 30.5 percent ethanol at some HPCL pumps. These 63 pumps also included pumps of Naira, Shell and MRPL. The government says that the quantity found at some pumps of BPCL, Nayara and Shell also exceeded the prescribed limit.
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What is the Karnataka government claiming?
The Karnataka government also claimed that the samples were first sent to the laboratories of Indian Oil and HPCL. According to him, these laboratories did not disclose the quantity of ethanol. The government called it a question on the transparency of these companies. Karnataka Congress claims that testing of petrol samples of oil companies has revealed huge differences regarding ethanol blending. The amount of ethanol in the fuel of different companies has been recorded ranging from 13.5 percent to 31.2 percent.
According to Congress, the highest level of ethanol was found at 31.2 percent in IOCL's normal petrol (MS) and up to 30.5 percent in HPCL's premium 'Power' petrol, while in HPCL's regular petrol 27 percent, BPCL's 'Speed' 26.5% and Naira's 26.1%, it was above the level of 25.5% in Shell's sample. In the samples of BPCL, MRPL and IOCL, this quantity was recorded in the range of 19.2 percent to 24.2 percent. The lowest in the list was 13.5 percent ethanol found in a petrol sample from Shell. These claims are from Karnataka Congress. Oil companies have rejected this.