Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has written to China National Petroleum Corporation (PetroChina) asking to discuss oil imports at the earliest.

After signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) last week, NOC has moved to discuss the modality, import route, quantity and prices of the petroleum products that Nepal wants to buy from the northern neighbour.

Mukunda Ghimire, director of NOC, confirmed that they had sent a letter to PetroChina on Tuesday. “In order to discuss the business deal, we have sent the letter,” said Ghimire, adding that NOC had asked to seal a business deal as soon as possible.

Earlier, Nepal had a signed an MoU with China for importing oil commercially. The MoU was also related to taking delivery of 1 million litres of petrol gifted by the northern neighbour.

The signing of the MoU has opened the way for Nepal to import petroleum products from China. Nepal had sought to import fuel from the northern neighbour after India imposed a trade embargo and stopped oil shipments to Nepal. Ghimire said that they had also requested PetroChina to come forth with the price ceiling of their petroleum products.

According to him, NOC has asked the Chinese company to finalize a deal by the end of November.

Meanwhile, NOC sent another 17 tankers to Rasuwagadhi on Tuesday to bring fuel from Kyirong, China. Basu Pradhan, president of the Bagmati Petroleum Transport Entrepreneurs’ Association, said this was the third convoy of tankers sent to Kyirong.

According to Pradhan, the 17 tankers that went to Kyirong on Tuesday morning have returned to Nepal with fuel.

Earlier, Nepal had received 12 tankers (104 kilolitres) of petrol in the first lot.

The tankers are being sent to Kyirong to import 1,333 kilolitres of petrol gifted by China.

LPG bottlers told to provide details

KATHMANDU: The government on Tuesday directed liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottlers to provide details of the cooking gas cylinders they plan to distribute. It has set up a separate control room at Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to study the data provided by them.  A six-member monitoring team has been formed under Hari Narayan Belbase, director of the Department of Commerce and Supply Management. The other members are representatives from the Commerce Ministry, Nepal Gas Dealers’ Federation, Nepal LP Gas Industry Association, NOC and Nepal Police.  Bishnu Prasad Bhattarai, an official of the Commerce Ministry and a member of the monitoring team, said they had started coordinating with the gas industry and gas dealers to provide information to the general people. “We have planned to simplify the distribution process so that people don’t have to stand in line all night to get a half-filled cylinder of gas.”