OMCs float tender for 112 cr litres of ethanol for auto fuel blending

15 June 2022, New Delhi: Oil marketing companies (OMCs) floated a tender on Tuesday for contracting around 112 crore litres of denatured anhydrous ethanol for blending with auto fuels. The last date for submitting bids is June 20.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation has floated the tender for ethanol supply in the Ethanol Supply Year 2021-22, which ends in November. As on June 5, OMCs have cumulatively issued Letter of Intent (LoIs) for 443.24 crore litres. Of this, around 439.80 crore litres have been contracted and 224.93 crore litres delivered.

Blending status

For ethanol made from sugarcane juice, LoIs were issued for 79.27 crore litres, while 79.68 crore litres were contracted and receipts issued for 64.78 crore litres, as of June 5.

In case of B-Heavy Molasses, LoIs were issued for 269.62 crore litres, of which 265.98 crore litres were contracted and receipts issued for 127.10 crore litres. For C-Heavy Molasses, LoIs were issued for 13.32 crore litres, while 12.70 crore litres were contracted and receipts issued for 6.31 crore litres. For ethanol made from damaged food grains, the OMCs have issued LoIs for 43.65 crore litres and of this, 36.88 crore litres have been contracted, while receipts have been issued for 12.13 crore litres. Similarly, for ethanol made from surplus rice, LoIs were issued for 37.38 crore litres, and of this, 44.56 crore litres were contracted. Receipts were issued for 14.61 crore litres.

As on June 5, OMCs have achieved 10.04 per cent blending.

Promoting ethanol

The Centre is also promoting ethanol-blended petrol programme to boos the agriculture sector, environment, reduce import dependency and save foreign exchange. Accordingly, the National Policy on Biofuels, 2018, was notified, which laid out the indicative target of 20 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol and 5 per cent blending of biodiesel in diesel by 2030. The Centre has also advanced the target of 20 per cent blending of ethanol in petrol from 2030 to 2025-26.

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