India will begin supplies of ultra low sulphur petrol conforming to the Euro-III vehicular emission norms in 11 major cities and Euro-II grade fuel in other parts of the country from April 1 but supply of diesel of the same grades may miss the deadline, government officials said.
"There is no problem in the introduction of Euro-III grade petrol in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore,
Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Surat, Kanpur and Agra and Euro-II grade in other parts of the country. But there are supply constraints for diesel of the same grade," a top official said.
Oil ministry reviewed the preparedness of the refineries for the supply of clean fuels at a meeting last week and it was informed that except for one or two cities, Euro-III grade diesel would be supplied in the 11 designated cities from April 1. The remaining cities would be covered by June 1.
"But supply of Euro-II (or Bharat Stage-II) grade diesel is possible only in 65 per cent of the country and the rest would have the new grade fuel on August 1," he said.
Petroleum ministry is pushing oil companies to narrow the shortfall in domestic production through imports but sufficient quantities are not available internationally either.
The National Auto Fuel policy, drafted for cutting pollution, envisages supply of diesel with 0.035 per cent sulphur and cetane number 51 and petrol with one per cent benzene and octane number 91 in 11 cities from April 2005.