Will 'assess' ethanol-blending plan before setting higher targets: Puri

Biofuels not harmful to engines, says Oil Minister amid concerns about impact

The government will “assess” the national ethanol blending programme before setting higher targets, said Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, on Tuesday amid a controversy over the initiative’s impact on vehicles.

 

The programme aims to reduce the country's reliance on crude oil imports and cut carbon emissions by mixing ethanol with petrol. The programme had a goal of achieving 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol (E20) by 2025-26. The target was originally set for 2030 but was advanced due to its success.

 

“We had the target of 20 per cent blending — for which the target date was 2030 and we have done it six years in advance. I will put a full stop there; we will assess where we have to go, Puri said in New Delhi. “All the stories you hear that we are not going to do another leapfrogging. We have to come to those conclusions — when the ecosystem is absorbing all this.”

   

India had achieved ethanol-blending targets of 1.4 per cent in 2014 and 10 per cent in November 2022, five months in advance, as part of a larger focus on sustainability, Puri said at the KPMG ENRich programme.

 

Vehicle owners and automakers have raised questions about the impact of ethanol blending on engine health, mileage and fuel price. An oil ministry statement last month rejected fears that E20 fuel affects vehicles or engines.

 

"If a person drives from Delhi to Gurugram every day, there are 21 reasons why the efficiency of the car would have come down by 1-2 per cent," Puri said, rejecting the authenticity of “stories around biofuels being harmful for engines”.

 

Puri said the government had implemented several reforms in the oil and gas since 2016, including the “landmark” Oilfield (Regulation and Development) Amendment Bill that seeks to make the sector more attractive to investors for exploration and production.

 

“That message has resonated and today there is renewed interest from the international oil majors and they are cooperating with our PSUs [public sector units] like ONGC for the rejuvenation in Mumbai High and other offshore basins. The results being shared by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbon show this,” he said.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurating India’s first bamboo-based ethanol plant in Assam this week marked the major advances taking place in the energy sector, said the minister.