Breweries guzzle ethanol needed by oil firms

CHANDIGARH: Oil companies here are still grappling with issues related to ethanol blended petrol which is being supplied at pumps in Punjab and Chandigarh.
Apart from problems related to procurement of adequate quantity of ethanol, the companies are also yet to conduct an exercise to educate the consumer about the fuel.
Petrol pump owners here say that after ushering in the new fuel, it has been made mandatory for the oil companies to blend petrol with five per cent ethanol at the oil depots.And the shortage of ethanol has lead to problems in supply of fuel.
"Presently, there is a shortage of ethanol at the Ambala depot and we have not been getting our regular supply," says a pump owner. Oil company officials here say that, as of know, the ethanol requirement was being met by five Uttar Pradesh-based vendors.
The companies have not been able to get their supply from sugar mill owners in Punjab and Haryana. The tender floated by the companies for supply of ethanol did not evoke any response from the sugar mills in the region.
"The ethanol production in the region is sufficient only to cater to the requirements of the liquor industry. So far we have not received any response from the producers here," says an oil company official.
Apart from this, owing to its usage in the liquor industry, the oil companies are also faced with the issues of excise clearance for ethanol procurement.
Officials, however, say that the issue had been taken up with the excise and taxation department at the ministerial level and a government notification on relaxing the controls on supply of ethanol to oil industry was expected in the near future.
The fuel is also said to be causing problems in running of vehicles mainly two-wheelers. This is attributed to the absence of a separate mechanism for blending ethanol with petrol. Instead this is being done while loading the oil tanker at the depot resulting in an uneven mixing of the fuel.
Oil company officials, however, say that as ethanol was highly miscible with petrol there were no chances of irregular mixing of the fuel.
About problems related to twowheelers, officials say that it was largely on account of the positioning of the fuel tank that was exposed and inadequate sealing of the tank lid.
Since ethanol was highly miscible with water, two-wheeler owners have been advised to take precautions to ensure that the tank remains free of traces of water or moisture.