India to Roll Out Euro III Fuel by October

By SUNIL RAGHU
NEW DELHI -- India, the world's fourth-biggest polluter, will likely miss the April 1, 2010, deadline it set for itself for the introduction across the nation of cleaner automotive fuels meeting Euro III emission standards.
It will now roll out Euro III fuel by October, junior oil minister Jitin Prasada said Wednesday.
"India being a very large country, it will be difficult to introduce Euro III fuel everywhere and it will be implemented in phases by October," Mr. Prasada told reporters.
However, he said that the oil companies would meet the deadline to introduce fuels complying with Euro IV emission standards in 13 cities, including all major ones.
The Bharat Stage-III and Bharat Stage-IV emission rules were established under India's National Auto Fuel Policy of 2003 to regulate the emission of harmful pollutants from vehicles. Specifications under Bharat Stage-III and Bharat Stage-IV are equivalent to Euro III and Euro IV guidelines.
"The road map for the roll out of Euro III fuel across the country would be finalised after a meeting to be held on Feb. 15," India oil secretary R. S. Pandey told reporters.
Private players, including Reliance Industries Ltd. and Essar Oil Ltd. have agreed to supply Euro III and Euro IV fuels, he said, without specifying the quantities of gasoline and diesel required.
The onus of importing or supplying Euro III and Euro IV fuels lie with the oil marketing companies, both state-owned and private, he said.
Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. Chairman Sarthak Behuria said that the company plans to import about 2 million-2.5 million tons of Euro III diesel in the initial four-five months of its adoption.
"There should be no problem in introducing Euro IV fuels but we are stretching our facilities so that we can begin introducing Euro III fuels from April 1 at least in some parts of the country," he said.
Mr. Pandey said the oil companies or the federal government would approach the country's supreme court with a plea to extend the April 1 deadline for the roll out of Euro III fuel across the country after obtaining legal advice.
Write to Sunil Raghu at Sunil.Raghu@dowjones.com