Bhutan declined an offer from Indian Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to import E20 petrol. The controversy escalated after India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas issued a stern fact-check on social media, labeling the publication’s claims as “incorrect” and explicitly stating that no Indian OMC had made such an offer, nor did any active proposal exist to export the 20% ethanol-blended fuel to the Himalayan nation. In immediate retaliation to the government’s denial, Lamsang took to X (formerly Twitter) to share a written response from Bhutan’s Department of Trade, which confirmed that Indian OMCs had indeed raised the transition to E20 petrol during official technical meetings, prompting Bhutanese officials to explicitly request the continued supply of conventional, unblended petrol instead.
The underlying dispute hinges on diplomatic and technical semantics, as the official Bhutanese document details clear structural anxieties rather than a formally rejected trade treaty. The correspondence reveals that Bhutan’s Department of Trade and its largest fuel distributor, Tashi BOD, harbor deep concerns regarding ethanol’s hygroscopic (water-absorbing) nature. In Bhutan’s rugged Himalayan terrain, where underground storage tanks are prone to water seepage, introducing E20 carries a severe risk of fuel contamination and widespread vehicle engine damage. While the document avoids the phrase “formal proposal”—providing the foundational basis for New Delhi’s denial—it proves that Bhutan has asked India for substantial advance notice if a full transition to ethanol-blended fuel becomes mandatory. This grace period is deemed essential to allow local dealers sufficient time to overhaul and upgrade the country’s aging, leak-vulnerable fuel infrastructure.