New Delhi: India's three state-run fuel retailers — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) — sought to reassure consumers regarding concerns around fuel quality by issuing three separate statements on Tuesday. In these statements, the three Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) said that they had carried out thousands of surprise inspections and quality tests across their retail outlets.
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The statements followed weeks of viral criticism over fuel quality online, most prominently around E20 ethanol-blended petrol, including videos alleging that the fuel corrodes engines and cuts mileage — claims which the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has dismissed as false and misleading on July 3.
Indian Oil, the country's largest fuel retailer, said that it had taken note of the concerns and sought to reassure customers that fuel quality at its retail outlets remained among its highest priorities. "Fuel quality is a matter of utmost importance for Indian Oil," the company said.
Over the past week, Indian Oil said, it had conducted nearly 10,000 surprise inspections across its retail outlets, carried out more than 8,500 quality tests and deployed hundreds of special inspection teams to independently verify compliance with quality standards. The company said regular inspections, surprise checks and scientific testing were part of what it called a rigorous quality assurance system. "Every day, our teams work across the country to ensure that customers receive fuel that meets all prescribed quality standards," the statement said.
Indian Oil said it followed a "zero-tolerance policy" towards any compromise in fuel quality. Where adulteration, contamination or a violation of prescribed quality norms was detected during inspections or established through customer complaints, the company said strict action was taken against the dealer concerned in line with applicable guidelines and contractual provisions.
The company urged customers to report any fuel-quality concern at the retail outlet or through its customer care channels rather than act on unverified social media posts, and said every complaint was investigated promptly through a process it described as transparent and well-defined. It said it remained committed to delivering fuels that met all statutory and industry specifications while upholding the trust of its customers.
HPCL said it had stepped up fuel-quality surveillance across its retail network, focusing on ethanol-blended petrol. Between July 7 and July 13, its field officers conducted 2,173 surprise inspections at retail outlets to verify ethanol blending compliance, alongside 1,385 regular inspections carried out between July 3 and July 13 as part of its ongoing monitoring, the company said.
HPCL's Quality Assurance (Anti-Adulteration) Cell carried out a further 93 surprise inspections, while 49 fuel samples were tested using the corporation's mobile laboratories, it said. The exercise found "no instances of adulteration, contamination, critical irregularities, or quality compliance lapses across the retail network during the reporting period," according to the statement.
The company said it followed a multi-layer quality assurance system comprising regular field inspections, surprise checks, laboratory testing and continuous monitoring, and reaffirmed its commitment to supplying what it called safe, reliable and high-quality fuels.
BPCL said it had carried out 932 surprise inspections across its retail outlets between July 3 and July 13. Its Quality Control Cell conducted a further 111 inspections, while its Quality Assurance Department undertook 50 surprise sampling and on-site testing exercises through its mobile laboratory network, the company said.
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BPCL said the exercise found "no cases of adulteration, contamination, critical irregularities or compliance lapses" across the retail outlets covered during the reporting period.
