NOC projected monthly losses drop to Rs 557m on new IOC price list
KATHMANDU, OCT 18 -
Nepal Oil Corporation’s ( NOC ) projected monthly losses have come down to Rs 557.1 million from Rs 753.1 million, computed on the basis of the new price list sent by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Oct 16.
According to NOC , its loss on a litre of diesel has dropped to Rs 3.93 from Rs 6.68, which has helped to offset the overall losses. Diesel sales account for 60 percent of its total fuel sales and 45 percent of its losses.
On the other hand, the profit on a litre of petrol has increased to Rs 9.16 from Rs 8.13. IOC, the sole supplier of fuel to Nepal, reviews its export prices of petrol and diesel every fortnight and of other products such as kerosene, aviation fuel and LPG on a monthly basis.
Currently, NOC has been incurring hefty losses on LPG sales amounting to Rs 580 per cylinder. Based on a monthly consumption of 1.2 million cylinders, the projected losses on LPG come to Rs 696 million.
As per IOC’s new tariff, NOC will be making a profit of Rs 5.54 on a litre of kerosene and Rs 17.23 on a litre of ATF (aviation turbine fuel) sold to domestic airlines and Rs 21.96 on ATF sold to international carriers. The monthly import of kerosene and ATF is 6,000 kl and 10,000 kl respectively. The price of Brent crude in the international market which was US$ 112.2 per barrel on Oct 1 advanced to US$ 114.4 on Oct 15. Meanwhile, NOC said that the supply of fuel during the Dashain festival would be normal, and the corporation plans to stop distribution for only four days.
“ NOC ’s depots will be closed for only four days (Oct 22-25) to keep the supply smooth,” said Mukunda Prasad Dhungel, spokesperson of NOC .
Coloured cylinder plan postponed
KATHMANDU: Nepal Oil Corporation ( NOC ) has postponed its plan to implement a dual cylinder system and distribute consumer cards for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by at least a month. NOC spokesperson Mukunda Dhungel said that the scheme would be started from Nov 16.
The state-owned oil monopoly had planned to issue colour-coded LPG cylinders and consumer cards on Oct 17. “Delays in the collection of application forms has forced NOC to postpone the plan by a month.”
NOC has collected 52,000 forms from consumers through its gas dealers so far. The company plans to introduce red cylinders weighing 14.2 kg for household users and blue cylinders weighing 19 kg for commercial users. The government will provide a subsidy to red card holders under the scheme. Currently, NOC offers a subsidy of Rs 580 on a LPG cylinder for all users.
