Karnataka's '30% ethanol' claim stirs row as OMCs junk 'test'

NEW DELHI: Public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Friday hit back at Congress-led Karnataka govt's claims that petrol tested by labs authorised by it had found ethanol content exceeding the prescribed 20% limit, and said the findings were not supported by tests conducted under statutory and technical procedures.

Karnataka food, civil supplies and legal metrology minister Rizwan Arshad had claimed that tests conducted by its authorised laboratories on petrol samples from across the state were "alarming", showing ethanol content as high as 31.2%.

Late in the evening, rebutting the claims, the three oil retailers - Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation - questioned the sampling and testing methodology adopted during an Oct exercise by the state govt, arguing that the procedure did not follow the requirements laid down under the Motor Spirit and High Speed Diesel Control Order, 2005, and Marketing Discipline Guidelines (MDG), 2024. They said the samples were drawn without the participation of their representatives.

Countering the state's findings, the fuel retailers said all 893 samples collected from OMC depots and retail outlets across 27 states and Union Territories under a quality monitoring exercise conducted by petroleum ministry's Centre for High Technology were found to contain ethanol within the prescribed 19-21% range.

"The 56 samples tested in Karnataka, covering different locations and all three OMCs, also met the specifications, recording ethanol content between 19% and 20%, with an average of 19.3%," the fuel retailers said.

The fuel retailers sought complete sampling documentation, outlet-wise laboratory reports and details of the testing methodology from Karnataka govt, besides access to counterpart samples for independent testing at an authorised laboratory in the presence of state govt and company representatives.

The companies said they were willing to cooperate with the state govt in a joint sampling and testing exercise in accordance with the prescribed procedures.

Arshad earlier said laboratory findings from 14 of the 63 petrol bunks, which also included Nayara, Shell and MRPL facilities, besides the three state-run OMCs, showed a maximum of 31.2% and 30.5% ethanol blending in some IOCL and HPCL petrol bunks, respectively, which were way beyond the stipulated 20%. Blending at some BPCL, Nayara and Shell bunks were also found to be beyond the prescribed limit.

Karnataka govt claimed that the samples were initially sent to IOCL and HPCL labs for testing. "However, these laboratories did not disclose the ethanol content in the fuel," it said, claiming this raised serious questions about the transparency of these oil marketing companies.