Image from IndianOil graphic on E20 test results. Image: IndianOil
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government and the public sector oil companies have put out sharply conflicting figures on how much ethanol is in the E20 petrol sold in the state, leaving motorists with a basic question: whose numbers are right? Indian Oil Corporation (IndianOil) said on Saturday that all 56 E20 petrol samples tested across Karnataka by public sector oil marketing companies met the prescribed ethanol-content specifications, with an average of 19.30%.
That came a day after the state’s Legal Metrology Department said 11 of the 14 petrol samples listed in its test results contained more than 20% ethanol, with the highest reading of 31.2% in an IOCL sample. The state had sought disclosure, regulatory action and compensation for consumers after presenting those findings.
In a graphic released with its statement, IndianOil set “claims of 26-31%” against “test results of 19-20%”. It said that while reports had alleged 26-31% ethanol in petrol at certain Karnataka outlets, all 56 samples tested by the public sector oil companies across the state met the IS 17021 specifications. The company described its results as “facts backed by scientific testing”.
The state’s figures were supported by six test certificates issued by Shriram Research Institute, Bengaluru, which identify gas chromatography as the method used. Those certificates correspond to the six highest readings in the state’s table: 31.2%, 30.5%, 27%, 26.5%, 26.1% and 25.5%.
The two sets of results do not answer the same questions. IndianOil did not say which fuel stations were sampled, when the samples were drawn or which laboratories carried out the tests, and its statement did not respond to the individual samples listed in the state’s results. Its samples were tested by the oil companies themselves rather than by an independent laboratory. The state’s findings, on the other hand, rest on a smaller set of 14 samples, with individual laboratory certificates released for six of them.
On the evidence made public so far, the figures cannot be compared sample for sample, and neither side has released material that settles the dispute. A joint or independent test of samples drawn from the same outlets would be needed to establish whether petrol in Karnataka is being over-blended.
The prescribed range matters to the argument. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Saturday that 20% ethanol blending is within the accepted range of 19% to 21%, and accused the Congress of an anti-farmer stand in opposing it. IndianOil’s reported average of 19.30% falls within that band, while the highest readings in the state’s results are well above it.
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