Nepal and India on Tuesday held a meeting on a range of bilateral trade-related issues including oil and gas co-operation between the two countries.

Visiting Minister Commerce, Industries and Supplies Matrika Prasad Yadav led the Nepali team and Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas of India, Dharmendra Pradhan, headed the Indian delegation during the meeting held at Shastri Bhawan.

The meeting reportedly held discussions on feasibility study for setting up a gas pipeline, along with the under-construction Mahottari-Amlekhgunj Petroleum Pipeline, for supplying cooking fuel to Nepal.  Nepal buys all of its cooking gas needs from India, and the fuel is supplied to through gas bullets from refineries at Haldia, Panipat and Paradip.

Nepali side has been saying that the laying of pipeline will cut the supply expenditure by gas bullets and will also end the problem of obstruction in supply. 

Nepal imports 25,000 tonnes of cooking gas in a month. Two years ago Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) had formally requested the Indian Oil Corporation for setting up gas supply pipeline.

During Prime Minister Oli's India visit in April, PM K P Sharma Oli and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had jointly launched the India-Nepal petroleum products pipeline from Motihari to Amlekhgunj. The 69-km long pipeline will supply 20,00,000 tonnes of oil annually. The pipeline project is expected to complete in two years.

Likewise, the meeting also discussed the supply of natural gas for opening chemical fertilizer factory in Nepal in a bid to resolve the problem of chemical fertilizer in Nepal.