MINISTER of STATE for PETROLEUM & NATURAL GAS (SHRIMATI PANABAAKA LAKSHMI)
(a) A Gazette Notification has been issued by MoPNG on 2nd January, 2013 directing Oil
Marketing Companies (OMCs) to sell ethanol blended Petrol with percentage of ethanol upto
10% as per BIS Specification to achieve 5% ethanol blending across the country as a whole.
(b)to (e) The Government had further decided on 22.11.2012 that 5% mandatory ethanol
blending with petrol should be implemented across the country to be achieved by 30.06.2013.
The procurement price of ethanol was to be decided between OMCs and suppliers of ethanol and
in case of any shortfall in domestic supply, the OMCs and Chemical companies were free to
import ethanol.
Accordingly, OMCs floated a tender on 29th December, 2012 for their requirement of 140.4 crore
litres of ethanol for 10% blending in 6 States and 5% blending in 14 States and 4 UTs for the
period from July 2013 to June 2014. Against the said tender, total quantity of 55 crore litres
of ethanol was offered by the bidders. A total quantity of 40 crore litres was finalized by
the Oil Industry for procurement at 54 industry locations. After the placement of Letter of
Intent to the vendors by OMCs, Purchase Orders were signed for 38.2 crore litres in June-August
2013 and OMCs have procured about 14.1 crore litres of ethanol as on 28th November 2013.
A global tender was also floated by OMCs on 18th January 2013 for 82.03 crore litres of
ethanol. However, due to the high prices quoted by the vendors, the global tender has been
closed by the OMCs.
As the OMCs could not get the required quantity of ethanol through tender process for achieving
the target of 5% overall ethanol blending by June, 2013, the Government decided that OMCs should
procure ethanol from domestic sources to achieve the mandatory requirement of 5% ethanol blending
with petrol by October 2013 in areas/parts of the country where sufficient quantity of ethanol
is available. In other parts of the country, blending of ethanol would be increased
progressively depending upon the availability of ethanol to reach the 5% mandatory level.
Accordingly, OMCs floated a fresh tender on 22.07.2013 for the period from 1.12.2013 to 30.11.
2014 for a quantity of 133.2 crore litres of ethanol for blending with petrol. A total offer
for supply of 61.8 crore litres of ethanol has been received and is under negotiations.
State Governments have been requested to simplify procedures and expedite clearances to ease
the availability of Ethanol for the EBP Programme.
The State Government of Karnataka has been requested to grant excise permissions to OMCs for
implementation of 10% ethanol blending in petrol in the State of Karnataka.
