Karnataka finds up to 31.2% ethanol in E20 petrol, seeks consumer compensation
The Karnataka government on Friday claimed that petrol sold by oil marketing companies contains substantially more than the mandated 20% ethanol blend (E20).
The state government said it had tested petrol samples from different companies and found ethanol concentrations exceeding 20% in several samples, raising concerns that motorists could be suffering financial losses because of excessive blending.
As many as 63 samples were collected from major oil marketing companies, including IOCL, HPCL and Shell, across Karnataka. The samples were initially sent to the oil marketing companies' laboratories along with several queries, including one seeking details of the ethanol content in each of the 63 samples.
However, the companies allegedly failed to provide clear answers on the ethanol content, prompting the state government to suspect that something was amiss. The government subsequently sent the samples to private laboratories for independent testing.
Tests of samples collected from seven districts, including Bengaluru Urban, reportedly found ethanol concentrations exceeding the 20% benchmark.
"It's not E20 fuel. It's more than 31.2% ethanol at IOCL, 30.5% at HPCL, 26.5% at BPCL, 26.1% at Nayara and 25.5% at Shell," the Karnataka government said in a press release.
The findings raise serious questions about fuel quality and compliance with the prescribed ethanol-blending limit, as well as the potential impact on consumers in terms of reduced mileage and higher vehicle maintenance costs.
In simple terms, E20 petrol should contain 20% ethanol and 80% petrol. Samples containing 25.5% or 30.5% ethanol, if the findings are confirmed, would represent a substantial deviation from that benchmark. For instance, one grade of HPCL petrol (MS-Power) was found to contain 30.5% ethanol, while another grade (MS) contained 27%.
The results also showed ethanol content of 26.5 per cent in Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited's Speed petrol, 26.1 per cent in Nayara petrol and 25.5 per cent in Shell petrol. Two BPCL samples contained 24.2 per cent and 22.6 per cent ethanol, while another HPCL sample recorded 22.4 per cent and another IOCL sample had 20.8 per cent.
Among the remaining petrol samples, ethanol content was recorded at 20.6 per cent in Nayara petrol, 19.9 per cent in a BPCL sample, 19.2 per cent in a Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited sample and 13.5 per cent in a Shell sample.
Karnataka Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Rizwan Arshad demanded that the Centre establish a compensation fund to reimburse motorists for losses allegedly caused by excessive ethanol blending in petrol, including reduced fuel efficiency and higher vehicle maintenance costs.
Quantifying the potential economic burden on consumers, the Karnataka government said motorists could suffer annual losses of Rs 62,000 crore if mileage drops by 10%, while excessive ethanol blending could lead to an additional Rs 39,000 crore in vehicle servicing costs.
"The Government of India must publicly clarify the actual ethanol blend being supplied to consumers," the release said.- Ends
Nagarjun Dwarakanath covers Politics extensively in Karnataka and across Southern India. A commercial Pilot by qualification, Nagarjun covers Aviation beat for India today
