Overview
- The Ministry of Petroleum said on Tuesday that only two petrol pumps have confirmed chloride contamination and that sales from those outlets were suspended immediately.
- SIAM withdrew a July 28 technical note late on Tuesday, saying some figures need broader validation while reaffirming support for the E20 programme and continuing to press for mandatory chloride limits.
- Industry testing cited high chloride and excessive moisture in some vehicle and retail samples, conditions that can corrode fuel injectors and cause ethanol blends to separate and strand vehicles.
- The Centre has ordered Oil Marketing Companies to strengthen on‑ground monitoring, with water‑ingress checks 8–12 times daily at more than 87,000 outlets and over 2,000 chloride/sulphide samples analysed so far.
- Separate police probes into illicit fuel theft and adulteration, including Lucknow’s ‘Operation Ethanol Shield’, underline enforcement risks and focus attention on ageing tanks, pipelines and pending BIS chloride rules such as SIAM’s proposed <1 mg/kg limit.