In an attempt to address this issue, India’s largest state-run oil marketing company, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has come out with a solution and launched a special grade of diesel, which has a “pour point” of -33°C.
The pour point of a liquid is the temperature below which it loses its flow characteristics. Paraffin present in diesel is said to start solidifying when temperatures reach below -35°C.
“Using the normal grade of diesel fuel becomes an arduous task for people in the winter months where temperatures fall to sub-zero temperatures reaching nearly – 30°C. However, the new winter-grade diesel produced by Panipat Refinery, for the first time, has a pour point of – 33°C and does not lose its fluidity even in the extreme winter weather conditions in the region, unlike the standard grades of Diesel which become exceedingly difficult to utilize,” said IOC in a statement.
The diesel meets the emission standards set by the Indian regulatory body, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
IOC’s refinery at Panipat in northern Haryana has dispatched the first tanker of special grade diesel to the newly formed federally administered territory of Ladakh for distribution through its retail networks during the peak of the winter season. Bulk production of the diesel will take place at the IOC’s refining unit in Jalandhar in northern Punjab.
IOC accounts for nearly half of India’s market share of petroleum products with sales of about 90 million tonnes in 2018-19. It also owns and operates 11 of India’s 23 refineries with a combined refining capacity of 80.7 million metric tonnes per annum. IOC has 14,200 kilometres of pipeline networks across the country and ranks as one of the largest such companies in the world.