10th September, 2002
Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas  


NOTIFICATION ISSUED MAKING DOPING OF ETHANOL WITH PETROL MANDATORY FROM 1ST JANUARY 2003 IN 9 STATES AND 4 UTs

CONTROL ORDER REGULATING SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION OF PETROL AMENDED


In view of the need to build up ethanol availability in the country Government has decided to mandate the use of petrol doped with 5% ethanol i.e. Gasohol, in two phases throughout the country. Phase-I, to commence from 1st January 2003, will focus on the major sugar producing States while Phase-II would be taken up subsequently to cover the rest of the regions. The Control Order regulating supply and distribution of petrol has also been amended accordingly. The resolution mandating gasohol supply in the Phase-I States/Union Territories as well as the amendment of the MS & HSD (Regulation of Supply and Distribution and Prevention of malpractices) Control Order, 2002 have been notified in the Gazette. The 9 States covered under the first phase are: Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. The 4 Union Territories are Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Pondicherry. The blended fuel i.e. Gasohol would be supplied through 11,538 retail outlets in these States and UTs.

The total petrol consumption in these States and Union Territories was over 4.6 million tonnes in 2001-2002. At this level, the estimated ethanol required for blending with petrol would be approximately in the range of 32-35 crore litres per year. These States have geared themselves up to encourage the sugar industries and distillery units to augment their ethanol production capacity. The Sugar Development Fund Act, 1982 has been amended to fund such augmentation programmes.

It may be recalled that the Government had earlier launched three Pilot Projects – two in Maharashtra and one U.P. for production and sale of 5% ethanol doped petrol. The first Pilot Project commenced operations in April 2001 at Miraj-Hazarwadi Depot in Maharashtra and the remaining two in June 2001 at Bareilly in U.P. and Manmad in Maharashtra. These projects confirmed the suitability of use of gasohol fuel in vehicles without requirement of any modification as also its potential to reduce environmental pollution on account of its oxygenate quality. Added to these, use of gasohol also confers advantage of boosting production in the agricultural and industrial sectors and requires no alteration in the existing specification of petrol notified by the Bureau of Indian Standards.