Cooking gas supply drops to one-third of demand

KATHMANDU,JAN 26: 

Cooking gas supply-demand mismatch seems to create shortage in the market.

LP Gas Industry Association today claimed that Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has supplied them only one-third of the market demand in January.

“The state oil monopoly supplied 7,559 metric tonne of cooking gas by today, against the monthly market demand of 22,000 metric tonne,” general secretary Kush Prasad Malli said, adding that the short supply has forced general consumer to face scarcity.

“The association demands NOC to solve the problem immediately through diplomatic channel since Indian Oil Corporation — the sole supplier of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) — itself has reduced the supply,” according to the association. Ministry of Commerce and Supplies said that NOC has already discussed with its Indian counterpart to ensure the smooth supply of cooking gas.

A group led by board member of NOC and joint secretary at the Finance Ministry Rajiv Gautam is currently at IOC’s head office in Mumbai and they have discussed on the issue of smooth supply of cooking gas, joint secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies Deepak Subedi said, adding that the IOC has pledged to supply cooking gas from tomorrow.

Meanwhile, frequent disturbance in supply due to general strike and holidays has created problem to the NOC in maintaining smooth supply of petroleum products. It had supplied 406 kl petrol, 478 kl diesel and 134 kl kerosene in January 22. “NOC is supplying fuel according to demand,” he added.