Bottlers miss LPG import quota again

KATHMANDU:

Though Nepal Oil Corporation — the state-owned petroleum supply monopoly — increased the quota for import of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), bottlers failed to utilise it in February as well.

To smoothen LPG supply, NOC had extended quota of 29,415 tonnes each month for January and February, but bottlers imported only 26,047 and 24,000 tonnes, respectively. According to NOC, bottlers missed 5,415 tonnes in February. Import in February is 2,047 tonnes less than in January, which hints towards possibility of it taking longer to smoothen LPG supply.

“Demand will gradually drop with onset of summer season, so there won’t be any shortage soon,” said Shiva Prasad Ghimire, president of Nepal LP Gas Industry Association.

He claimed that refineries of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) had not dispatched LPG bullets, as per demand. “Only 300 bullets were used to transport LPG to Nepal and this is not adequate to import full quota.”

The country imports cooking gas from Barauni refinery, Haldia, Karnal and Mathura. IOC’s Barauni refinery, the nearest refinery from Nepal, caters a larger amount of LPG supplied to Nepal. A loaded bullet dispatched from Barauni arrives at the destination within three days.

But NOC officials have said bottlers who were blaming NOC for LPG shortage have to enhance the storage capacity of their bottling plants. Altogether, 55 bottling plants have capacity to store only 6,500 tonnes at one time.

“The bottlers have to increase their storage capacity,” said Mukunda Ghimire, spokesperson for NOC. He further said NOC may extend similar quota in March. However, he said NOC is also preparing to revise the quota of bottlers based on actual number of cylinders they circulated in the market.

Source:THT