Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) officially allowed LPG bottlers to acquire gas bullet trucks.

The state-owned oil monopoly on Tuesday allowed the bottlers to purchase 600 bullets. NOC had been preparing to allow the bottlers to acquire the bullets since India imposed a trade blockade on Nepal.

During the embargo, Indian gas bullets had refused to transport LPG to Nepal citing security reasons.

Currently, neither NOC nor private sector companies possess LPG bullets, leaving Nepal at the mercy of Indian transporters for the shipment of cooking gas.

According to NOC, more than 523 Indian bullets are currently used to import LPG. Gas bottlers have been paying around Rs3.5 billion annually to the Indian transporters for the service.

There are 53 LPG bottlers operating in the country. Shiva Ghimire, president of Nepal LP Gas Industry Association, acknowledged the receipt of the official NOC letter permitting them to purchase 600 gas bullets. “We had actually planned to acquire 775 gas bullets in total,” said Ghimire.

NOC has delegated authority to the association to allocate the bullet purchase quota to the gas companies. Ghimire said they have already assigned the quota.

More than 523 Indian bullets are currently used to import LPG 

(Source: Nepal LP Gas Industry Association)