By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, DEC 02, 2020: IN a move that can be a potential game-changer in the petroleum fuel retail market in India, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) launched the nation's first world-class premium grade 100 Octane petrol, XP100, on Tuesday.

At the launch, Petroleum Minister Mr Dharmendra Pradhan said XP100 is being refined at IOC's Mathura refinery in Uttar Pradesh and will be available at select outlets across 10 metros - Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Agra, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad. In the second phase, they plan to extend it to Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kochi and Kolkata.

The Octane rating is a measure of the fuel's ability to resists knocking during combustion, caused when the air and fuel mixture detonates prematurely within the engine cylinders. This can be damaging to the engine over time. The higher the Octane rating for a fuel the more resistant it is to this phenomenon.

Mr Pradhan said that the technology for XP100 petrol has been indigenously created by Indian Oil. “This is a testimony to India's technological prowess and manufacturing it within our refineries is a shining example of Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” he said.

Worldwide, 100 Octane petrol has a niche market for luxury vehicles that demand high performance, and is available only in six countries like Germany, U.S. and Greece.

Previously, the nation adopted BS-VI (Euro-VI) emission compliant norms from April 2020. BS-VI can bring particulate matter in diesel cars down by 80% and reduce nitrogen oxides from diesel cars by 70% and petrol cars by 25%.