Three days after the oil trade deal between Nepal and China, 12 tankers from Kathmandu reached Rasuwagadhi-Kerung border point on Friday to collect the first consignment of fuel that China had pledged as grant.

The tankers owned by Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) will reach Kerung, 174 km from Kathmandu, on Saturday morning and are expected to arrive in the Capital by Sunday.

Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai is scheduled to hand over the petroleum products to Nepali officials amid a special function. Nepali Ambassador to China Mahesh Maskey and Nepali Consular General to Lhasa Hari Prasad Basyal will also attend the event.

Chinese petroleum tankers are expected to reach Kerung from Shigatse on Saturday, Shiva Ram Gelal, chief district officer of Rasuwa, said.

Nepal signed the historic oil trade deal with China on Wednesday, opening the door for petroleum import from the northern neighbour. A separate deal was also signed that day in which China agreed to provide 1.2 million litres of fuel to Nepal as grant.

As Nepal’s economy continues to reel under severe fuel shortages due to an undeclared trade embargo imposed by India, Nepal made an unprecedented move of appointing a second oil trading partner. To that end, the NOC signed a memorandum of understanding with China National United Oil Corporation (PetroChina). It also signed a separate MoU with PetroChina for commercial trading of oil.

Though the Rasuwagadhi-Kerung border point was blocked due to landslides following the April 25 earthquake, it was reopened last week after China cleared the road obstruction on its side. The Dhunche-Syapru section on Nepal side, which was also damaged by landslides, was also fixed recently.

India raises supply, 223 tankers enter Nepal

Post Report

KATHMANDU: Indian Oil Corporation continued to increase the supply of fuel to Nepal on the second consecutive day on Friday. Altogether 223 tankers carrying petro products entered Nepal from various points, making it the largest fuel consignment to enter the country since India imposed an unofficial trade embargo on September 22.

One hundred and thirty nine tankers entered Nepal from Jogbani-Biratnagar border alone. Similarly, 56 tankers entered from Sunauli-Bhairahawa border, 14 from Rupaidiha-Nepalgunj border, 14 from Trinagar customs point in Kailali and two from Kakadvitta customs point in Jhapa.

After Nepal signed the oil deal with China, India has steadily increased the flow of fuel to Nepal. On Thursday, 131 tankers entered Nepal while hardly 40 used to come in earlier.