India: Oil Companies Get Good Response to Ethanol Procurement Tender

State-owned fuel retailing firms have received an "overwhelming" response to the tender they floated for buying ethanol for mixing in petrol, said a government statement. "The first Expression of Interest (EOI) for signing long-term agreement with upcoming dedicated ethanol plants for supply of ethanol has received an overwhelming response, with 197 bidders participating in the same," it said without giving details of the quantity ethanol manufacturers have committed to supply.

The EOI was published by Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) on behalf of oil marketing companies on August 27, and it opened on September 17. "The bids are currently under evaluation," it said. The oil companies floated the tender to buy ethanol for progressively raising the percentage of ethanol mixed in petrol to 20 percent (80 percent petrol, 20 percent ethanol).

The statement said 1.73 billion litre ethanol was procured last year and 5 percent blending was achieved during ethanol supply year(ESY) 2019-20 (December 2019 to November 2020). The target for ongoing year ESY-2020-21 (December 2020 to November 2021) is 3.25 billion litre which will take the blending to 8.5 percent. Actual achievement during ESY - 2020-21 so far has been 2.43 billion litre, accounting for 8.01 percent blending, it said.