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Fuel woes not to end immediately
KATHMANDU, JUL 01 -
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) on Thursday said that the petroleum shortage seen across the country would ease from Friday but that things wouldn't return to normal immediately.
"It will take some time to return to normal. The supply side will improve gradually, but it will take time," said NOC spokesperson Mukunda Dhungel.
According to him, 2,100 kl of petroleum products have been loaded from the Amlekhgunj depot on Thursday. On Wednesday, NOC had loaded 1,600 kl from the depot. He said that due to rampant hoarding, there has been an acute shortage across the country although NOC had been delivering fresh supplies regularly.
The capital has witnessed long queues of motorists outside gasoline stations for three consecutive days as supplies have run short of demand.
In response, a cabinet meeting on Wednesday decided to provide a Rs. 800 million grant to NOC. However, Dhungel said that they had not received any notice in this regard.
The grant has been issued to pay NOC's outstanding dues to India Oil Corporation (IOC) which has curtailed shipment in recent days.
Earlier, NOC said the shortage had been caused by IOC's move to cut deliveries by 50-60 percent as NOC had fallen behind in its payments. The IOC had reduced fuel shipments from June 16 as NOC's import bills crossed Rs. 800 million.
IOC has been exporting only 1,000 kl of petroleum products per day compared to the daily requirement of 2,300 kl. NOC had asked the government for Rs. 1 billion or to hike the fuel price to allow it to pay its bills, however, the government had ruled out increasing fuel prices.
NOC said it had incurred losses amounting to Rs. 1.30 billion on LPG and diesel as of May 31. It was losing Rs. 177 per cylinder of LPG.
Posted on: 2010-07-02 08:43
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