To check adulteration of petrol and diesel with subsidised kerosene, the marker system would be soon reintroduced.

Oil marketing companies are likely to initiate the tender process for kerosene marker later this month. The scheme was halted in January 2009 as the markers? permanent coloured substance added to adulterants, so as to check adulteration of petrol and diesel?supplied by United Kingdom-based Authentix were found inefficient in detecting adultertion in petrol and diesel.

The three public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs)?Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation? have now finalised the modalities of the tender. The OMCs were given time till March 31, 2009 to come up with uniform standards to enable proper comparison of bids and selection of an appropriate supplier.

?We would launch the new expression of interest for the marker this month,? a spokesperson of Indian Oil Corporation told FE. The government started the marker system?in October 2006 to curb rampant adulteration of petrol and diesel by kerosene due to huge price differential.

While kerosene is sold at Rs 9 a litre, petrol and diesel are sold at Rs 40.62 a litre and diesel at Rs 30.86 a litre, respectively.

The OMCs signed contracts worth Rs 106 crore with United Kingdom-based Authentix, the only company that was found to meet all the requirements of the oil industry. Three more contracts were signed with the company later.

Four companies had expressed interest for the contract that was awarded in 2006. ?But we faced difficulty in comparison of their product due to differences in the technical and financial standards of the three oil marketing companies (OMCs). Authentix was the best suited,? an official in the ministry of petroleum and natural gas said.

However, in 2008, Oil Sector Officers? Association filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Mumbai High Court, alleging that the supplied marker becomes non-functional on application of natural clay. It also alleged that the award of contract to Authentix was in violation of norms. Tests conducted by the OMCs also proved the inefficiency of the marker of Authentix.

Working on the PIL, the high court asked the government to examine the matter. The Central Bureau of Investigation also asked the ministry to provide the papers of award of the contract.

In order to identify more companies for supply of marker kits, the Research and Development Wing of IOC issued a global expression of interest in July 2008, to which three parties responded. ?However, due to differences no one was selected,? said the official in the ministry.

Following this, the petroleum ministry pressed the halt button on the scheme with effect from January 1.

The OMCs were asked to bring in uniformity in their standards so that ?price comparison also becomes possible and best-suited supplier is selected?, the official said.

The marker system is not the first of its kind to check the adulteration of high-end fuel in the country. Way back in 1990, the oil industry first introduced blending of kerosene with furfural for the purpose. However, furfural being toxic in nature posed problems in blending especially at port locations, where large quantities of kerosene from parallel marketing network entered the market with the liberalisation of the oil sector.

Kerosene was also joined by products like aromatic solvents. Subsequently, bio-markers like Oronite and Spectrace markers were also experimented with in the oil industry.

However, the operational issues of correct dosage and availability of test-kits were a major deterrent.

On the mark

• Oil marketing companies are likely to initiate the tender process for kerosene marker later this month

• The scheme was halted in January 2009 as the markers supplied by United Kingdom-based Authentix were found inefficient in detecting the corruption in petrol and diesel

• The government started the marker system in October 2006 to curb rampant adulteration of petrol and diesel by kerosene due to huge price differential