The Delhi ‘smog’ seems to have ended the ongoing feud between car manufacturers and petroleum retailers on the rollout of Bharat Stage-VI grade fuel. Both have expressed their preparedness to meet the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry’s proposal to advance the higher-grade fuel supplies by two years to April 1, 2018.

As three State governments — Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana — struggle to find a solution to the air pollution, an official statement from the Ministry said that considering the “serious pollution levels” in Delhi and adjoining areas, the Ministry had decided in consultation with public sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to advance the timeline for the rollout of BS-VI grade fuel in the National Capital Territory to April 1, 2018 from April 1, 2020.

“The PSU OMCs have also been asked to examine the possibility of introduction of BS-VI auto fuel in the whole of NCR area from April 1, 2019,” the statement added.

The government had earlier decided to leapfrog from BS-IV to BS-VI grade by April 1, 2020, skipping BS-V.

Thumbs up from CSE The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said BS-VI fuel will cut sulphur emissions by five times from the current BS-IV level, a whopping 80 per cent reduction.

Besides, according to the CSE, this will improve emisisons from the existing fleet, even from the older vehicles on road, while allowing more advance emisisons control systems to be fitted in BS-VI vehicles when they begin to roll out.

“This is the kind of proactive and responsive leadership we need to see in our government...We cannot anymore work with small and incremental steps to bring us the kind of air quality benefits that we need,” said Sunita Narain, Director-General, CSE.

But are the oil retailers prepared? An IndianOil official told BusinessLine , “Fuel requirements of the Capital are met through the Mathura and Panipat refineries. And both will be ready to supply the required grade of fuel by then. The Paradip refinery also produces BS-VI grade fuel.”

“Since supplies to Delhi-NCR are prioritised over other centres, appropriate steps will be taken to ensure that there is no disruption,” the official added.

IndianOil is the largest retailer in the region. “IndianOil has 198 of the 398 fuel outlets in the National Capital Region. The remaining are divided among Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited. BPCL has around 140 to 150 outlets and HPCL has the rest,” said Ajay Bansal, President of the All India Petroleum Dealers Association.

So how will BPCL and HPCL maintian supplies of BS-VI grade fuel? According to industry sources, the companies can go ini for a swap arrangement. Besides, HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd’s (HMEL) Bhatinda refinery can supply to the retailers.

“Delhi is a small market compared to the entire country. If push comes to shove, both HPCL and BPCL can purchase fuel from IndianOil and private refiners to meet the requirements,” said an oil company excutive.

Meanwhile, Abhay Firodia, President, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), said, “The early introduction of BS-VI fuel gives confidence to the auto Industry that the grade will be available across the country from April 1, 2020, when the auto industry will fully migrate to manufacturing only BS-VI compliant vehicles on a pan-India basis.”

SIAM said the industry welcomes the Ministry’s tentative plan to extend availability of BS-VI fuel across the NCR from April 1, 2019.

Besides, the auto players who export to Europe are already Euro-VI compliant, and BS-VI grade requirements are not very different from it. Maruti for example, which owns a major portion of the market in the NCR region, has its Europe-bound vehicles complying with Euro-VI. Players also say that the government had already announced the target of 2020, so most manufacturers were working towards it.

Also read: All you wanted to know about BS VI emission norms

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