NOC set to import more LPG

KATHMANDU, JULY 30: 

The state-owned supplier of petroleum products –– Nepal Oil Corporation –– has decided to import an additional 2,000 metric tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to meet the market demand.

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has been importing 17,500 metric tonnes of LPG, said acting managing director of NOC Suresh Kumar Agrawal, adding NOC has already asked its sole supplier –– Indian Oil Corporation –– to raise the LPG quota from the existing 18,000 metric tonnes every month to 20,000 metric tonnes. 

Consumers will not face scarcity of LPG after the enforcement of the provision from August, he said. 

Indian Oil Corporation will provide up to 12,000 metric tonnes of cooking gas from its Barauni depot, up to 5,000 metric tonnes from Haldiya depot and up to 3,000 metric tonnes from Mathura depot, informed Agrawal, adding that the increased quantity is sufficient for the domestic market. 

However, an official at the corporation said that the decision to increase LPG imports from India is a planned move by NOC to add more bottling plants. “Officials at the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, and NOC are trying to grant permission to more bottling plants,” he said under condition of anonymity, adding that NOC decided to raise the import volume to clear the way for more plants. 

Meanwhile, NOC has completed the entry of only 335 consumers in its online database, according to the source. 

Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ National Association has said it will send an additional 10,000 consumer cards to the corporation soon, he added. It had started the distribution of consumer cards from the beginning of April by issuing a card to prime minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai. The association had pledged to complete the process by mid-April. The distribution of consumer cards will take some more months to complete, said Agrawal.

Loss worth Rs 10bn in last fiscal

The country traded petroleum products worth Rs 90 billion in fiscal year 2011-12, according to acting managing director of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) Suresh Kumar Agrawal. The corporation paid Rs 18.4 billion revenue in the last fiscal year, he said, adding that it paid Rs 350 million to clear its interests on loans that it had taken from the government. NOC incurred a loss of Rs 10 billion from the trade of petroleum products in the last fiscal year, he informed. “Of the total loss, Rs 5.5 billion was from LPG.”

Total loans at Rs 26.87bn

Nepal Oil Corporation’s total losses has reached Rs 26.87 billion until the end of last fiscal year (2011-12), according to the corporation. The state-run oil monopoly has an outstanding loan of Rs 12.64 billion from the government, Rs 7 billion loan from the Employees Provident Fund, Rs 5.13 billion loan from Citizen Investment Trust and Rs 2.1 billion loan from various commercial banks, said acting managing director of NOC Suresh Kumar Agrawal said. Its losses has been mounting over the years.