Views of a Nepali Economist

According to Suresh Kumar Agrawal, officiating managing director of NOC, as corporation has dues to pay to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the import has been slashed. The cash-strapped oil monopoly has a credit of worth Rs.160 billion to IOC...Agrawal also said that NOC is not in a position to supply fuel to fully meet the demands until the clearance of dues to IOC.

NOC loss is increasing to Rs. 1.26 billion in December as it is supplying the petroleum products below the cost of its purchase. However, the government had also imposed double price system in fuels to ease import and to reduce its mounting losses of NOC, later it decided to roll back its decision following the protest from the entrepreneurs and consumers, and decided to fix the rate of petroleum at same rates to all. 

The government on Tuesday decided to provide loan assistance of Rs 1.5 billion to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to ease supply of petroleum products....A Cabinet meeting held at Singha Durbar this morning took the decision to this effect as per the December 23 agreement between Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun, Commerce and Supplies Minister Lekh Raj Bhatta and NOC officials to support the cash strapped state-owned oil monopoly instead of readjustment in the price of fuels for the time being.

Demand for kerosene has almost doubled after the government imposed a dual pricing system on diesel and kerosene. According to Nepal Oil Corporation’s (NOC) Amlekhgunj depot, daily demand for kerosene has soared to 50-55 kl from 30-32 kl since the government enforced dual prices on Dec 10. 

Under the dual pricing system, NOC hiked diesel and kerosene prices to Rs 94.23 and Rs 84 per litre respectively for factories, hotels, diplomatic missions, hospitals, development projects and other large consumers who buy 3,000 litres at a time. Prices for ordinary consumers remained unchanged at Rs 76 per litre. 

India has slashed the fuel supply to Nepal by 50 percent owing to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC)’s failure to clear the outstanding dues, triggering a crisis of petroleum products across the country...NOC owes Rs 1.6 billion in outstanding dues to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the sole supplier of petroleum products to Nepal. General l public are reeling from the crisis.

 Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) — the umbrella organisation of Neapl — has said that it is developing the common opinion of private sector regarding current energy crisis. ...FNCCI will publicise its official opinion and way ahead of current fuel crisis within two weeks, it said, adding that the federation will consult with experts, governments officials, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and other stakeholders before developing its opinion and plans.

Labels: crisis, petroleum

# posted by Mukesh Khanal @ 10:28 AM