E20 Petrol Row: Centre Rejects Karnataka’s 31% Ethanol Claim, Says All 893 Samples Passed
The Petroleum Ministry says samples from 27 states and UTs, including 56 from Karnataka, stayed within the 19–21% ethanol band; oil companies want joint testing.
The Union government has dismissed Karnataka’s allegation that petrol sold in the state contains far more ethanol than the permitted 20%, saying every one of the 893 samples it tested met the quality standard.
What Karnataka said: State minister Rizwan Arshad said on Friday that independent laboratory tests on petrol collected from seven districts found ethanol levels of 31.2% in Indian Oil fuel and 30.5% in HPCL fuel. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took up the claim on social media, accusing the Centre of misleading motorists and saying excess ethanol would cut mileage and raise repair bills.
The Centre’s reply: In a statement on 7 November, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said 893 E20 samples drawn from depots and retail outlets of Indian Oil, BPCL and HPCL across 27 states and Union Territories were tested under the BIS standard IS 17021. All of them fell within the allowed range of 19% to 21%. Of these, 56 were from Karnataka, with ethanol content between 19% and 20% and an average of 19.30%.
Dispute over testing: The three public sector oil companies questioned how the state ran its October tests. They said samples were taken without their representatives present, counterpart samples and full lab reports were not shared, and the third-party certificates did not describe the gas chromatography method, dilution or reference materials used. Without these, the ministry said, the state’s figures of 26% to 31% cannot be independently checked.
The Centre also disputed estimates that E20 fuel costs consumers ₹1.01 lakh crore a year. It said E20-compatible vehicles may see mileage fall by 1% to 2%, and other vehicles by 3% to 6%.
The oil companies have asked for joint sampling and testing at authorised laboratories. Until that happens, the two sets of results remain in conflict.
Image: Shankar Nagar Petrol Pump, Nagpur 2.jpg by Slyronit, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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