Puri dismisses claims of biofuels damaging engines as ‘rubbish’

‘All stories you hear about biofuels being harmful for engines, there’s alot of ‘BS. And I don’t know what that means, but it’s a specializer’

- OUR CORRESPONDENT

Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday dismissed claims of biofuels damaging automobile engines as rubbish and said petrol blended with 20 per cent ethanol is environmentally safe to use.

“All the stories you hear about biofuels being harmful for engines, there's a lot of ‘BS’ - ‘B capital, ‘S, capital. And I don't know what that means, but it’s a specializer,” he said at KPMG’s annual energy and resources conclave, ENRich 2025 here.

‘Though he did not specify, he implied a cuss word for ‘rubbish,

Petrol blended with 20 per cent ethanol extracted from sugarcane or foodgrains, is safe to use, he said.

With all of the 90,000-plus petrol pumps across the country selling only E20 petrol (80 per cent petrol and 20 per cent ethanol), some motorists complained about the impact on older vehicles.

Carmakers added to the confusion by initially saying E20 fuel had not been tested for compatibility with older vehicles, but later backtracked to say they were safe to use.