Fuel shortage hits valley again

Kathmandu valley once again experienced a shortage of petroleum products on Wednesday, as the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), supplier of oil to Nepal, curtailed the supply of petroleum products by 40 percent to Nepal.

Thus the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) was forced to cut supply by as much as 60 per cent as the curtail was imposed by IOC.

The IOC's move came in response to the continued default in payment by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), which is running into billions of rupees. The NOC, which owes Rs 5.95 billion to IOC, defaulted the monthly payment for April and May, amounting to Rs 480 million.

“The latest reduction in supply that came at a time when NOC was maintaining a low stock, has caused severe disturbance in the distribution of petroleum products,” said Ichcha Bikram Thapa, spokesperson of NOC.

The current stock of petrol, diesel, and kerosene in the Kathmandu Valley is hardly adequate for two days, he added. Since last Friday, IOC began to steadily reduce the supply from Raxaul depot, which supplies around 80 percent of Nepal's import.

Most private petrol pumps went dry on Wednesday and only few are distributing diesel, said Dhruva Shrestha, secretary of Nepal Petroleum Dealers' Association (NPDA).

He informed that all private pumps would run dry by Thursday, if NOC continues to curtail supply. "Only few petrol pumps will be supplying diesel from tomorrow onwards," Shrestha said.

Only 72,000 liter of petrol was ferried into the capital on Wednesday, while the daily demand stands at 180,000 liter.

China positive to supply petroleum product

Meanwhile, Chinese ambassador to Nepal Zhen Xianglin has said that China was positive towards supplying petroleum products.

Speaking In an interaction with a delegation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce (NCC) led by its president Surendra Bir Malakar, the Chinese envoy informed this. He also said the Nepal government has made a proposal for petroleum supplies to which China was positive.

Recently, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala was reported to have requested Chinese government to supply petroleum products to Nepal as the latter was facing continuous disruption of fuel supplies coming from India due to various strikes. PM Koirala made this proposal during his meeting with the Chinese ambassador indicating that Nepal needed alternative supply route for the essential fuel.