[lapis_lazuli]

Slightly OT: what is the amount of ethanol/alcohol mixed with petrol, these days? Is it true, that up to 10-12% of ethanol is now being mixed ? What effect does that have on the actual fuel cost vis a vis the mileage we manage to extract from petrol?

[freedom]

On the way to work, I passed by my regular Pump and the price board read 61.x for Unleaded

Lets hope next price cut puts it at 59.x. Thats the sweet spot.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by lapis_lazuli

Slightly OT: what is the amount of ethanol/alcohol mixed with petrol, these days? Is it true, that up to 10-12% of ethanol is now being mixed ? What effect does that have on the actual fuel cost vis a vis the mileage we manage to extract from petrol?

The purpose of adding ethanol is to lower the emissions. More the carbon content in fuels more is the CO emissions. If you see the chemical composition of gasoline it is roughly C8H18 while for ethanol it is C2H5OH.
Since carbon content is lower in ethanol when compared to gasoline, correspondingly emissions will also come down
On the other hand the stoichiometric air fuel ratio for ethanol is much less when compared to gasoline but this is negated to some extent due to the presence of Oxygen.

[King_pin09]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Not exactly in GB, D, CH, US Diesel is somewhat costlier than petrol. Getting Diesel up to Euro-VI may even require some new refineries, since the current ones may not be upgradeable to the levels required. As of now our PSU refineries are not able to even produce enough of the BS-IV Diesel. When you go to Euro-IV V or VI levels production costs of Diesel skyrocket, and yields drop. What you say is true of 'normal' stuff but not to specifications which are tight.

Sir agreed.

Diesel, after extracting from the boilers, may be required to go through a separate set of filtration in order to get compliant to the specifications. This filteration may need installation of a complete new plant for the purpose and cannot be done within the same refinery itself. Thus an increase in cost becomes justified.

However, in refineries, crude oil passes through a process called cracking where the boiling point of many constituents is brought to a uniform level so before sending it to the distillation unit. Possibly, adopting a more stringent process at this stage itself may help eliminate the requirement to put the more volatile diesel into aggressive refinement, thereby keeping the costs in check.

[sgiitk]

@King_pin09; Fuels and the rest are all produced in the distillation unit which is also the cracker. Unfortunately, the Diesel which comes out has too much sulphur which has to be removed subsequently.

Quality of crude does help but even sour crude as is used in a complex refinery can be purified. Reliance having one of the most complex refineries in the world, routinely achieves this.

Remember it is sulphur which is responsible for most of the SPM emissions. Also, unless we have really low sulphur diesel high end technologies like Mercedes Blue cannot be adopted.

As it stands many of our older refineries, cannot economically be modified so will need to be essentially scrapped. As per some environmental engineering experts this figure may be as high as 60% of the PSU units.

[RSR]

So, after a very, very long time, we have fuel price difference come down to less than 10 rupees. I welcome this step, and hope the disgusting differential taxation (by both the centre & states) is completely done away with!

I'm not going to celebrate this, as it won't take much time for the diesel lobby to exert their influence on the oil mafia to make the fake, artificial fuel price differential go up again.

I still believe the difference between petrol & diesel is more than what it should be, even after considering the differential taxation.

Petrol users have always been the hapless victims of extortion. It's unlikely that the long list of extortionists would have changed their extortionist attitude that easily. So I'll wait and watch to see how this unfolds in the future.

[longhorn]

Originally Posted by RSR

I still believe the difference between petrol & diesel is more than what it should be, even after considering the differential taxation.

You are absolutely right on this one. As the price of crude drops, ideally the difference should also drop. Since we live in a much less than ideal world, we have to live with what the clowns we send to parliament decide to do.

As the cost of refining increases with BS 6 kicking in after 2020, I wouldn't be surprised if the production cost of diesel goes beyond that of petrol. Will that reflect in prices at the pump, your guess is as good as mine.

[firstguri]

Why do people have confusion over petrol being expensive than diesel. Wherever there isn't a subsidy on diesel, it's expensive than petrol! In India diesel is subsidised and that is why it is cheaper than petrol. Remove the subsidy and petrol becomes marginally cheaper. And with Modi inching towards fuel deregulation, diesel will only become expensive. Also there's a big fuss about diesel engines polluting more. I don't know how true is that but what is true is that diesel engines emit lower greenhouse gases. So it isn't entirely bad compared to petrol engines.

And off topic but being an engineer I would also like to point out that diesel engine is the most thermodynamically efficient engine that man has invented till now.

[sgiitk]

@firstguri; Taxation on Diesel is quite a bit lower than on Petrol. If this is brought on par then the price differential will more or less vanish. The logic is that the poor farmer mostly uses Diesel, even if the farmer drives a Pajero or Fortuner, and pays no income tax. However, I may add that a lot of our netas are 'poor farmers'.

[gsurya]

Originally Posted by firstguri

And with Modi inching towards fuel deregulation, diesel will only become expensive.

Is there any evidence of this 'deregulation' bit? Rather with every fall in crude prices, Govt has been constantly manipulating the taxes to keep price more or less in a constant range! That is not deregulation.

True deregulation will come if & when crude & fuel is also include as part of GST, which many states oppose.

[1lokesh]

Another good news for Mumbaikars and those in Maharashtra State. The state Govt. today announced that in next 8 days, prices of Petrol, Diesel and Kerosene will be cut. Petrol will go down by 95 paise/Litre and Diesel by 66 paise/Litre

Source

[babhishek]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@firstguri; Taxation on Diesel is quite a bit lower than on Petrol. If this is brought on par then the price differential will more or less vanish. The logic is that the poor farmer mostly uses Diesel, even if the farmer drives a Pajero or Fortuner, and pays no income tax. However, I may add that a lot of our netas are 'poor farmers'.

True, sir. However, goods transport via roads and rail ( diesel engines ) is the major contributor for low taxes. Imagine transportation overheads increasing leading to inflated costs for goods, food products etc.
Of course the system can be optimized to cut the subsidy for private vehicles but that is another discussion and our 'poor farmers' will continue to exploit the low taxation/cheaper fuel prices.

[S2!!!]

Consumer Protection Minister Girish Bapat commented that petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene are most likely to get cheaper in the state of Maharashtra, as oil companies have agreed to waive the additional surcharge on products.

ET Auto reports that a meeting between Girish Bapat and Union Petrol and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was held in New Delhi to discuss "the unjust charging of surcharge". This issue had been pointed out to Girish Bapat by the Federation of Petrol Dealers' Association.

The removal of the surcharge would bring down the cost (per litre) of petrol by 95 paisa and diesel by 66 paisa within a week. This will also positively affect LPG and kerosene prices.

[sgiitk]

@babhishek' Dual pricing is asking for corruption. A payback is much preferable. I for one do not see full party taxation in the foreseeable future.

[sgiitk]

All of a sudden fuel prices cut by ₹1.56 for Petrol and ₹1.41 for Diesel by the OMCs. It is being attributed to something called State Specific Costs (whats that?!). There are also some cuts in LPG cylinder prices (unsubsidized and commercial).