Delhiites, get ultra-clean petrol, diesel at no extra-price from tomorrow
To combat alarming levels of air pollution in Delhi, ultra-clean "Euro-VI grade" petrol and diesel will be supplied from tomorrow at no additional price. Delhi will be India's first city to leapfrog from Euro-IV to Euro-VI grade State-owned oil firms will supply BS-VI petrol/diesel (equivalent to Euro-VI) at their 391 petrol-pumps in the national capital territory, said Indian Oil's Director (Refineries) BV Rama Gopal.
Cities in NCR to switch to cleaner fuel next year
Cities in the national capital region like Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, and Faridabad as well as 13 major cities including Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune will switch over to cleaner Euro-VI grade fuel from January 1 next year. Others will follow suit from April 2020.
No plan of passing on cost to consumers: Rama Gopal
Oil companies invested heavily to produce cleaner fuel but consumers aren't being passed on the cost, for the time being, said Rama Gopal. "There are no plans to recover (the cost) from customers, immediately," he said, adding a mechanism for recovering it when the whole country shifts to Euro-VI grade fuel would be developed. The cleaner fuel should cost around 50p more per liter.
Four refineries producing Euro-VI grade fuel to meet Delhi's requirement
To meet Delhi's annual consumption of 9.6 lakh tonnes of petrol and 12.65 lakh tonnes of diesel, Mathura refinery in Uttar Pradesh, Panipat refinery in Haryana, Bina in Madhya Pradesh, and Bhatinda in Punjab have started producing Euro-VI grade fuel. About Rs. 183cr has been spent on Panipat refinery alone for producing cleaner fuel. Other refineries are in the process of being upgraded.
India to directly switch over to BS-VI from BS-IV
In 2015, India decided to leapfrog to Euro-VI grade petrol and diesel from April 2020, from the existing Euro-IV grade. While the deadline for the rest of the country remains April 2020, the same for Delhi, which is choking on thick toxic smog, was brought forward. Euro-VI grade fuel contains 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur as against 50 ppm in Euro-IV fuels.
Cleaner fuel supply to give comfort to automakers: Gopal
Gopal said the cleaner Euro-VI fuel and lesser grade cars and two-wheelers, which are presently available in the country, would result in 10-20% reduction in particulate emission but for full benefits, the vehicles too need to have Euro-VI engines. "BS-VI petrol and diesel supplies from tomorrow give comfort to automobiles manufacturers that supplies of cleaner fuel would not be a problem," the official said.
Sulfur specification for fuel, 50 times less in BS-VI grade
According to IOC, for petrol engines, one of the most critical specifications is Research Octane No. (RON), which has improved from 88 in BS-II to 91. It's at par with regular 91 octane gasoline (petrol) required for Euro-VI emission norms. Sulfur specification for petrol and diesel will be reduced 50 times from a level of 500ppm in BS-II fuel to 10ppm in BS-VI.
Oil refineries need to invest Rs. 28,000cr to meet specifications
Previously, fuels meeting Euro-IV or BS-IV specifications were to be supplied throughout India by Apr'17 and BS-V or Euro-V grade by 1 April'20. But the government plans to switch over directly from BS-IV to BS-VI grade. Oil refineries earlier invested over Rs. 55,000cr for production/supply of BS-III/IV fuels; they need to invest Rs. 28,000cr in upgrading petrol/diesel quality to meet cleaner fuel specifications by 2020.
