strange issue in pakistan related to cars

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KARACHI: Government officials will meet sugar millers and crude oil refiners next week in Islamabad to push forward a plan to make mandatory the blending of ethanol with petrol, a senior petroleum ministry official told The News on Friday. The meeting will review technical and financial problems detailed in a report, which was prepared by Pakistan State Oil (PSO) as an assessment of a pilot project launched by last government to check the feasibility of mixing 10 per cent ethanol with 90 per cent petrol. “Some issues have to be discussed like the level of government subsidy on ethanol,” said Shaukat Durrani, Additional Secretary at Ministry of Petroleum. “A financial incentive has to be there for people to choose the blend over petrol.” The government’s desire to promote the use of blended fuel has reemerged after crude oil prices once again surged to a record in international markets. The country imports oil to meet most of its crude oil and petroleum products’ needs. Presently, the blend is being sold through three outlets of the PSO, one each in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad as part of the project started in 2006 to check its compatibility with cars and gauge the market response. A tax waiver was given on ethanol to keep its cost lower than ex-refinery price of petrol for making the blend economically viable. E-10 sells at Rs52.93 per liter, Rs0.85 less than gasoline being sold at Rs53.78. This price difference was Rs1.52 till early 2007 when petrol and E-10 were selling at Rs57.78 and Rs56.26, respectively. Oil refineries will resist tooth and nail any move that cuts down petrol consumption. There contention is that petrol is already a surplus product and a blend with ethanol will further decrease its use, forcing refineries to run below capacity. Attock Refinery Ltd (ARL) CEO Adil Khattak even claimed that PSO has termed the whole pilot project a failure. “They have said in the report that the project is a failure,” he commented. “There are safety and security issues affiliated with the use of the blend and it also damages the engine.” However, a PSO official involved with monitoring of the vehicles using E-10 told this scribe the response was positive. “Complaints of knocking problem in the nine pre-identified cars reduced drastically,” said the official deputed at one of the three state-run petrol pumps trying the E-10 fuel. “Besides, public has also given very positive feedback.” He said emission tests revealed that cars running on E-10 gasoline emit relatively lesser quantity of carbon monoxide reflecting the environment-friendly nature of the blend. “Though, all the nine pre-identified vehicles belonged to government organisations, E-10 has made sincere customers amongst general public,” the official said. Sugar millers are equally supportive of the initiative. Aslam Farooqui, Chairman of the Sindh chapter of Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), said use of ethanol-blended-petrol is being promoted the world over and Pakistan should not be an exception. The country exports almost all of the 264,000 tonnes of ethanol it produces. Experts fear that a subsidy on ethanol might lure farmers to grow sugarcane instead of other crops like cotton and wheat.