Ethanol blended petrol to be available from November
04 Oct 2010 PETROLEUM BAZAAR
PUNE: With oil companies finally accepting letters of intent (LoI) from ethanol manufacturers in the country to facilitate five per cent blending of ethanol with petrol, the green fuel would be made available in the market as early as next month.
The companies have accepted 143 LoI, for supplying 71.74 crore litres of ethanol to the companies. Maharashtra will supply 29.45 crore litres for the time being, of which 13.92 crore litres would be utilised by Maharashtra, and the remaining would be utilised by other states. Rest of the ethanol will come from ethanol manufacturers from north India, added R G Mane, secretary of the Ethanol Manufacturers' Association (EMA).
Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, chairman the EMA said, "The supply of ethanol will start within fifteen days, and the common man may get the green fuel by November first week. It will certainly help the sugar industry as well as the farmers."
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on August 16 approved the proposal for implementation of the ethanol blended petrol programme, under which five per cent ethanol will be blended with petrol.
Ethanol blending is considered eco friendly, besides cutting down on expenses on import of fuel. The government has fixed the price of ethanol at Rs 27 per litre, excluding transportation charges which would be borne by oil companies.
R G Mane, secretary of the association said, "EMA has submitted 195 LoI, of which 143 were accepted. Some LoI submitted by ethanol manufacturers, who are not associated with any sugar factories, were rejected by the oil companies on technical grounds."
A meeting of Union petroleum minister Murli Deora and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has been scheduled next week to solve the issue of the rejected LoIs. Courtesy: TOI
