India launches E100

In India, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs, launched ‘ETHANOL 100, a revolutionary automotive fuel at IndianOil Retail Outlet M/s. Irwin Road Service Station,here today. Starting from today, customers can avail ETHANOL 100 at select 183 retail outlets across five states – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi, and Tamil Nadu.

Launching the path breaking fuel, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri said that the launch of ETHANOL 100 was inspired by the vision of the Prime Minister of India to transform Annadatas to Urjadatas. Calling it a revolutionary fuel, the Minister said that ETHANOL 100 fuel has the potential to transform our transportation sector and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

“It reflects the government’s commitment to reducing import dependency, conserving foreign exchange, and boosting the agriculture sector. Since the Prime Minister’s announcement on E20 (20% ethanol blended fuel) in 2023, the E20 availability has increased to 12,000 outlets in under a year, and now, with the launch of ETHANOL100 at 183 outlets of IndianOil, we are close to achieving the target of 20% ethanol blending by 2025-26. During the last 10 years these ethanol blending initiatives have enhanced farmer incomes, increased rural employment, reduced CO2 emissions equivalent to planting 1.75 crore trees and resulted in savings of Rs 85,000 crore worth of foreign exchange” he stated.

Speaking about the strides made by the country towards realizing vision of PM to reach 20% blending of Ethanol in Petrol by 2025-26, Shri Puri, said that Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have been at the forefront of this endeavor, introducing various blends of Ethanol with Petrol across the country. He said that OMCs have signed long term offtake agreements with 131 dedicated ethanol plants. These plants are expected to add an annual production design capacity of 745 crore litres. OMCs have also invested in increasing storage capacity and allied infrastructure for handling higher blending percentages, he added.