New Delhi: Fuel stations are moving oil marketing companies (OMCs) to bear the cost of quality checks for ethanol-blended fuel, highlighting ongoing challenges in rolling out a fuel the government claims burns cleaner, saves forex, and helps farmers.
Retailers said that OMCs have prescribed regular E20 quality tests using a water-mixing method that renders the sample unfit for use. They have now reached out to OMCs and asked the petroleum ministry to notify a standard operating procedure, approve non-destructive testing equipment and reimburse dealers until such systems are put in place.
Prabhat Kumar Singh, president of the Bihar Petroleum Dealers Association (BPDA), said OMCs should provide dealers with scientifically validated testing equipment to verify the ethanol content of E20 petrol supplied through depots and stored at retail outlets.
"The entire fuel dispensing infrastructure—from storage tanks and pipelines to dispensing units—is owned and maintained by the OMCs. Dealers simply retail the fuel supplied to them. If quality verification is mandatory, OMCs should provide approved testing equipment instead of asking dealers to rely on unscientific methods," Singh said. The water-mixing method is not a scientifically validated field test and results in losses, Singh added.
For a petrol pump operating round clock, about 9 litres of petrol may get wasted in a day under the new testing protocol, dealers said.
Out of India's 100,000 retail fuel stations, 90,600 are served by state-run OMCs. Queries mailed to the petroleum ministry, Indian Oil Corp. Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd remained unanswered.
The field test
Under the OMC-prescribed test, when water is added to an E20 sample, ethanol binds with water and forms a separate layer. This process, known as phase separation, alters the chemical composition of the remaining petrol, rendering it unfit for use. In contrast, regular petrol undergoes a density test, which does not spoil the sample.
"Dealers have been asked to test the ethanol content by mixing 30ml of water with a 100ml sample of ethanol-blended petrol. If the ethanol content is 20%, the ethanol combines with the water and the lower layer increases to about 50ml. After deducting the original 30ml of water, the remaining 20ml indicates 20% ethanol content," Singh of BPDA explained.
"However, this process causes phase separation, permanently altering the composition of the fuel. The tested sample cannot be sold and has to be discarded. Until a proper standard operating procedure and scientifically approved portable testing equipment are made available, dealers should be compensated for the fuel lost during mandatory testing," he added.
'Significant losses'
Monty Sehgal, spokesperson for the Petrol Dealers Association, Punjab, said that the high frequency of testing can lead to significant financial losses. "Further, the additional testing requirement has also been directed only towards the pumps of government-owned companies and the pumps of private companies have been left, which should not have been the case," Sehgal said.
India’s aggressive push for E20 has sparked a public backlash. At the core of consumer grievances are complaints of mileage drop and claims of component corrosion and engine damage. Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday moved the Bombay High Court for permission to sue tech giants including Meta, Google, and X over defamatory content falsely accusing him and his family of profiting from the policy. Meanwhile, commercial drivers and operators represented by the Delhi Taxi and Tourist Transporters Association have announced a Parliament march on 4 August, demanding an independent scientific review of the E20 rollout.
Amarender Reddy, general secretary of United Petroleum Dealers Association, which represents pumps across 14 states, said: “We would reach out to the government on the issue and also seek compensation. Even the invoice from the OMCs after supplying fuel to the dealers does not mention whether it's E20 petrol. So, how would one know what is the ethanol blend?,” he questioned.
“We have no way of independently verifying whether the ethanol content in petrol is exactly 20%,” said Prashant Sinha, a fuel retailer in Patna. "The only method suggested to us involves adding water to the fuel sample, which changes its composition and makes it unfit for sale. Until scientifically validated testing equipment is provided, oil marketing companies should compensate dealers for the fuel lost during mandatory testing," said Prashant Sinha, a fuel retailer in Patna.
Fuel integrity
On 8 July, the petroleum ministry wrote to all state chief secretaries that adulteration and illegal fuel sale undermine the integrity of the petroleum distribution system, adversely affect vehicle performance, contribute to environmental pollution, compromise consumer safety and result in significant loss of revenue to the states and union territories.
“These malpractices also create an unfair market for genuine dealers and adversely impact the availability of quality fuel to consumers. In this context, I would like to request you to kindly direct the district magistrates/collectors and enforcement agencies such as civil supplies, police and legal metrology departments to conduct coordinated inspections, sampling and surprise checks under the relevant provisions of the above said control orders at petrol pumps storage points, suspected unauthorized storage locations and take action and curb such malpractices effectively,” the letter said.
It asked states and union territories to ensure close coordination among the concerned departments, enforcement agencies, oil marketing companies, and testing laboratories to facilitate timely detection and prevention of adulteration of petroleum products. It also directed OMCs to extend full cooperation to state enforcement authorities during such drives.
Safe handling
Further, state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd wrote to retailers to adhere to daily operating and inspection procedures to ensure the safe handling of ethanol-blended petrol (EBP) and to prevent water ingress into underground storage tanks. In view of monsoon, HPCL also reminded them to conduct tests every two hours for water in motor spirit, visually inspect samples and keep records.
Amid concerns of lower fuel efficiency and effect on vehicle components, the petroleum ministry earlier this month argued that E20 petrol costs more to produce than pure petrol; so, it cannot be sold cheaper. The ministry also cited benefits for farmers, energy security, and evidence from global and domestic experience.
The government said it plans to extend the blending programme in the wake of the West Asian crisis and concerns over energy security. On 5 June, it also launched the E85—or 85% ethanol-blended—petrol priced ₹20 per litre cheaper than the E20 variant. The government then said blending does not aim to make petrol cheaper, but insulate consumers from volatile supply and prices of international crude.
Petroleum product demand has been growing at swift pace over the past few years. About 241.61 million tonnes of petroleum products were sold in India in the last fiscal, out of which 42.58 million tonne accounted for petrol.