Projection

Nepal has been importing gasoline from India for more than five decades. State-owned company, the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), has a special purchase agreement with the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), to ensure a stable supply of fuels.

Therefore, while Nepal has never mandated ethanol blending, gasoline sold in the country contains ethanol at a similar level to that of India’s gasoline.

In February 2023, India introduced E20 (gasoline containing 19-20% v/v of ethanol) into the market. The government aims to switch to E20 nationwide on April 1, 2025. During this transition period, gasoline may contain ethanol between 4.5% v/v and 15% v/v. This was confirmed by the 2023 SGS Worldwide Fuel Survey sample results, which contain 4.5-12.3% v/v of ethanol.

As India blends more etha