Overview
- OMCs IndianOil, BPCL and HPCL said on Friday that intensive testing across refineries, distilleries, depots and retail outlets found refinery petrol chloride at or below 1 ppm and ethanol samples from 80 distilleries below 3 ppm.
- The companies said more than 160 retail and terminal tests returned chloride readings in the 0–3 ppm range and that more than 100 refinery samples met the low-chloride benchmark.
- Retail surveillance has been stepped up with underground-tank checks eight to twelve times daily at roughly 90,000 outlets and deployment of mobile fuel-testing labs to spot problems quickly.
- The surveillance program identified four isolated sites with elevated chloride levels; supplies at those sites were suspended, root-cause checks were launched, and corrective measures were applied before resuming operations.
- SIAM previously raised wear concerns linked to chloride but withdrew its letter pending data authentication, and independent validation of OMC results by accredited labs is continuing as the government monitors the rollout and potential effects on vehicle owners and retailers.