India renews ethanol goals

NEW DELHI, May 15 (UPI) -- India needs 147,936 gallons of ethanol annually for its ethanol-blended petrol program.

Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora also said Tuesday the government was considering increasing the amount of ethanol blended with gasoline to 10 percent from the current 5 percent.

So far, India has met its ethanol-fuel needs domestically.

"We have not imported any ethanol, and the entire EBP program is based on ethanol produced within the country," he said.

The comments were reported by the United News of India.

Ethanol-blended gasoline was initially used in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh states.

The first phase of India's ethanol-blended petroleum program was launched in January 2003 in nine sugarcane-growing states. Drought and flood conditions in 2003-04 and 2004-05 hurt the program, but a bumper crop in 2005-06 gave ethanol a boost. India's economy still relies heavily on agriculture.

India, like Brazil, uses sugarcane to make ethanol. The United States uses corn.

Deora said India was looking into implementing ethanol-blended petroleum across the nation.