New Delhi, (IANS) : State-run oil marketer Indian Oil Corp. (IOC) and the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) have signed an agreement to jointly explore cleaner fuels, IOC said on Monday.

“The USTDA awarded a grant to Indian Oil to analyse options for optimising its refining operations to produce cleaner fuels,” India’s largest refiner said in a release here.

Indian Oil and USTDA will analyse options for optimising its refining options to produce cleaner fuels, which will help the company improve efficiencies and reduce emissions at its refineries, as well as meet environmental standards, IOC said.

“The feasibility study will include market, technical, economic and financial analysis of advanced technologies in order to help Indian Oil identify solutions for converting refinery by-products into cleaner chemical products and/or fuels,” it said.

“This project follows Indian Oil’s participation in a USTDA reverse trade mission that brought Indian energy officials to the United States for meetings and site visits focused on refinery modernisation,” the statement added.