Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri says India will start experimental supplies of 20% ethanol blended petrol next few days

After achieving the target to sell petrol doped with 10 per cent ethanol, India will in the next couple of days start experimental supplies of 20 per biofuel mixed petrol, oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Friday.

Speaking at the 'Dance to Decarbonise' - the first public awareness event in the run-up to India Energy Week 2023, he said India achieved 10 per cent ethanol blended petrol (petrol 90 per cent, ethanol 10 per cent) in June, well ahead of the deadline of November 2022.

"E20 (petrol mixed with 20 per cent ethanol) will come in select markets on a pilot basis in a day or two," he said.

Ethanol extracted from sugarcane as well as agri waste is being mixed with petrol to cut India's dependence on imported oil for meeting its energy needs. Also, ethanol has a lower carbon footprint than fossil fuels, helping the nation meet its climate targets.

E20 is being rolled out in 11 states/UTs of Delhi, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Daman Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

"The initial target for E20 was April 1, 2023, but we have advanced it," he said.

Fifteen cities will be covered under phase 1.

"We are targeting a phased roll-out of E20 in the entire country between now and April 2025," he said.

This has resulted in not only augmenting the country's energy security but also translated into a forex savings of over Rs 41,500 crore, reduced GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions of 27 lakh tonnes and has benefitted farmers with expeditious payment of over Rs 40,600 crore being made to farmers in the last 8 years.

Moving away from fossil fuel, state-owned firms plan to install alternate fuel stations (EV charging/ CNG/ LPG/ LNG/ compressed biogas) at 22,000 petrol pumps by May 2024.
Puri nudged firms to add another 10,000 outlets to this.