Money
IOC refuses to boost fuel supply
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) said its sole supplier Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) had turned down its request to deliver more petrol from other border depots as it has not been getting any supply from the Raxaul depot.Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) said its sole supplier Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) had turned down its request to deliver more petrol from other border depots as it has not been getting any supply from the Raxaul depot.
IOC has refused to issue fuel from other depots citing inadequate stock, the state-owned oil monopoly said. NOC had asked IOC to deliver more fuel from its depots in Baitalpur and Gonda.
NOC Spokesperson Mukunda Ghimire said they had requested IOC to increase the supply of petrol by up to 400 kilolitres daily from each of the two depots. “However, IOC officials said they could not do so due to limited supply capacity,” he said. Ghimire added that two depots had each been supplying 150 kilolitres of petrol daily.
As the protests at almost all the border points had quieted down and the situation had largely eased even in Birgunj, NOC had asked IOC to supply more fuel from the Baitalpur and Gonda depots.
Currently, Nepal has been receiving only 30 percent of its fuel requirement. As the Indian blockade is continuing at Birgunj Customs, Nepal has been receiving petroleum mainly through the Biratnagar-Jogbani, Bhairahawa-Sunauli and Nepalgunj-Rupaidiha customs points. The oil comes from IOC’s depots in Barauni, Gonda and Baitalpur.
Although IOC has increased the supply to 30 percent of pre-embargo levels from 10-15 percent earlier, it is not sufficient to meet domestic demand, said NOC. The country suffered a fuel crisis following the Indian supply restriction, and the government has been unable to provide gasoline regularly to private motorists for almost the last four months.
Following the shortage of fuel, NOC has been shipping 60 percent of the total imports to the Kathmandu Valley due to the high demand here. “However, we have been unable to divert the quantity fully to the valley in recent days as local people have been pressurising NOC to distribute most of the imported fuel locally,” said NOC’s Acting Deputy Managing Director Shushil Bhattarai.
Meanwhile, NOC has clarified that it is unable to distribute gasoline regularly to private motorists. “NOC has 20,000 kilolitres of fuel in its tanks that can hold 72,000 kilolitres,” said Ghimire.
NOC figures show that its depot in Biratnagar has 4,000 kilolitres in stock compared to its capacity of 12,000 kilolitres. Similarly, Amlekhgunj has 4,000 kilolitres out of its capacity of 23,000 kilolitres, Thankot has 7,000 kilolitres of petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel against its storage capacity of 22,000 kilolitres.
Likewise, Pokhara has 900 kilolitres against its capacity of 3,600 kilolitres.