Rajesh Rai | Phuentsholing

The State Trading Corporation of Bhutan Limited (STCBL) will be the fourth petroleum (fuel) distributor in the country.

 The corporation brought its first consignment of fuel on February 21 in Phuentsholing.

 STCBL’s chief executive officer (CEO) Kuenga Namgay said they are getting the Bharat Standard (BS) VI fuel,” he said, adding that until now the best standard fuel imported was BS IV.

 Kuenga Namgay said that the Indian Supreme Court has recently passed an order to upgrade the fuel standard to BS VI level by April 2020. He said the BS IV, which is common in Bhutan had high sulphur content with 300 parts-per-million (PPM), while BS VI had just 10PPM.

 He said sulphur content has a big role in carbon emission and less content means more clean air. “BS VI is refined and purified. It is said BS VI is better than the normal fuel.”

Meanwhile, STCBL is partnering with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), an Indian oil and natural gas company. This will be the third collaboration with Indian Oil company after Indian Oil Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and their collaboration with the three private oil distributors.

 STCBL will soon launch their primary depot in Phuentsholing. Officials say they are looking for a suitable place as of now.

 Officials from HPCL also attended. As a part of the programme, BS VI was transferred to STCBL oil tanker from HPCL tanker.

 In January this year, trade department also announced that STCBL will also distribute 200 metric tonnes (MT) of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to consumers to maintain uninterrupted supply and distribution of LPG in the country.