BS6 Petrol, Diesel Will Be Available Across 28,000 Indian Oil Fuel Stations In The Country

Right before the BS6 emission norms are set to be implemented across the country, Indian Oil has readied its fuel stations with BS6 fuel. The company has confirmed the same for 28,000 of its fuel stations across the country.

The confirmation comes as a message on Twitter shared by Indian Oil Chairman Sanjiv Singh recently. As per the message, Singh affirms that Indian Oil is now totally BS6-complaint in automotive fuels. This extends from the company¡¯s refineries right down to the pump nozzles at all its fuel stations across India.

"With this, we have fulfilled our commitment of ushering clean, conventional energy in the country and kept our promise of delivering the cleanest fuels in just three years which is an unprecedented achievement. Also considering that India is perhaps the only country to leapfrog directly from BS4 to BS6 ultra-clean petrol and diesel, the timely completion of this ambitious initiative will go a long way in enhancing India's credentials as a world-class refining hub in Asia, with the fourth largest refining capacity in the world."

Indian Oil Fuel Station (Representative Image: BCCL)

Indian Oil bore a total cost of Rs 17,000 crore for the transformation. The total cost took into account the ¡°installation of new units like diesel hydro- treater, gasoline isomerisation, hydro-desulphurisation and revamp of existing processes, offsite and utility facilities,¡± with several of them being Indian Oil¡¯s in-house developed technologies at its R&D Centre, as per Singh.

A report by Autocar states that Indian Oil accounts for almost half of India's petroleum products market share, with a total sales of about 90 million tonnes in FY 2018-19. A similar cost was also borne by the state-owned OMCs, which have invested over Rs 30,000 crore combined for the transformation to BS6 compliant fuel production and sale.

BS6 norms are aimed at a cleaner fuel use by the vehicles in India. This is done by bringing down the sulphur content released by the fuel consumption by as much as 5 times than the BS3 norms. Apart from the 80% reduction in sulphur, BS6 fuel consumption will see around 70 percent less nitrogen oxide in diesel engines and 25 percent less in petrol engines.

Automobile dealers on the other hand are fighting a different battle altogether with the upcoming norms. The dealer association body recently requested the apex court to extend the deadlines for the sales of the stock, amidst a dropping sales count due to the Coronavirus lock-down. You can read all about it here.