The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Rameswar Teli in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha informed that Government had constituted an Expert Committee under the Chairmanship of Member, Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog) to prepare road map of auto Fuel Vision and Policy-2025.
As per previous Auto fuel Policy, Bharat Stage (BS)-II, BS-III and BS-IV quality auto fuels were introduced in the Country by 01.04.2017. The Committee proposed implementation of BS-V emission norms by 01.04.2020 and BS-VI emission norms from 2024. However, considering rising pollution, Government had decided to leapfrog directly from BS-IV to BS-VI emission norms w.e.f. 01.04.2020.
The fuel quality has improved significantly from BS-IV to BS-VI norms by reducing the permissible Sulphur content from 50 Parts Per Million (ppm) in BS-IV to maximum 10 ppm in BS-VI compliant fuel. This has enabled the introduction of advanced emission control technologies, including Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF) to reduce Particulate Matter (PM) and Selective Catalyst Reduction (SCR) systems for reduction in Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) emissions in BS-VI vehicles.
Oil India Limited (OIL) has established more than 1000 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) covering all the functions of installations under Health Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) Management System. From time to time, HSSE verticals are reviewed internally by top management based on project needs, statutory guidelines and job competency requirements.
Oil Industry Safety Directorate (OISD), a technical directorate under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, develops standards for oil & gas industry and carries out periodic external safety audits of oil & gas installations to monitor their compliance. However, safety, security and environmental aspects of the oil & gas installations are ensured by the companies concerned.
