Murli Deora, India’s Minister for Petroleum said that the blending process under the Ethanol Blended Programme (EBP) would begin from November 1. Later reports said, however, that knowledge_base would not be mandatory by knowledge_base date but will be subject to the availability of ethanol. The minister has directed oil marketing companies (OMCs) to implement the EBP initiative on a national scale to promote gasoline blended with 5% ethanol at the earliest opportunity. The oil marketing companies would have to acquire about 600 million liters of ethanol to blend with gasoline. At present, ethanol blending is mandatory in nine states and four union territories. (September 11, 2006)
