Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri
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Allaying fears of contamination of E20 fuel, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday said that oil marketing companies (OMCs) started rigorous testing at retail outlets (ROs) from mid-July collecting 2,000 samples per day.Addressing CII’s International Energy Conference and Exhibition (IECE), the Minister revealed that only 4 cases of contamination of E20 fuel was found.Without naming SIAM’s July 28th letter to the government in which the industry body flagged concerns over high chloride and moisture contamination in E20 fuel, Puri said “Some organisation wrote a letter. That letter, I think, was July 28. Two weeks before that we had started rigorous testing. They (OMCs) used to collect 2,000 samples from 2,000 ROs a day. They formed crack teams. Overall, they would have covered a very large number of pumps. They found 4 cases (of contamination) out of the 107,000 ROs.”The Minister said that some people are trying to create some controversy around the E20 fuel.India has around 107,000 retail outlets, which serve around 7 crore customers everyday and only four contamination cases were found. Someone out there is trying to place something out of context, he added.Speaking about the Samudra Manthan, or the National Offshore Exploration Scheme, Puri noted that the intent is to encourage private players to enter the domestic E&P sector.“We have two (drilling) rigs operating just now and we are getting a third one with ONGC chairman telling me that one rig costs $300,000 per day or whereabouts. There are not too many rigs available in the world,” he added.Puri stressed that Deepwater exploration & production (E&P) of oil and gas requires heavy expenditure, financial support and a lot of perseverance. India is committed to explore its Off-shore Deepwater and Ultra Deep waters to search for hydrocarbons.On the West Asia conflict, the Minister said that India maintained uninterrupted fuel supplies despite disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical energy choke point.Oil suppliesIndia’s supplies of crude oil, LPG and LNG were disrupted, but the country diversified its sources to prevent any dryout anywhere in the country.“I can say with a degree of confidence, not one station went dry, not one,” Puri said, referring to the country’s network of more than 1,07,000 fuel retail outlets.India has around 107,000 ROs or petrol pumps with roughly 7 crore consumers visiting ROs every day.Published on August 7, 2026
