Petroleum dealers say that since Sunday the recent fuel crunch started to ease up after the NOC pumped more than 350 kiloliters (KL) of petrol in the valley. This welcome development came about as a result of the NOC´s instituting well-coordinated import measures and with the government´s providing added security for fuel carriers from Saturday.
The NOC´s distribution records show that from Sunday it has been regularly distributing more fuel in the Kathmandu Valley: 250 KL of petrol from the Thankot depot and an additional 100 KL from Amlekhgunj. "An additional 50 KL of petrol from Bhairawa, which will be supplied to the private dealers, will also reach the market by late Tuesday evening," said Ramesh Koirala, the deputy director, Distribution, at the NOC.
Under normal circumstances, when demand stands at about 250 KL, the current volume being released would have been enough to flood the market. But since the demand has ballooned to 400 KL-- due to the cumulative impact of the shortage that reigned over the last two weeks-- that volume falls well short of the market´s current demand.
That pent-up demand is also the reason that despite the surge in supply, queues of vehicles are still visible in the most-visited refilling stations in the Valley, like the Sajha petrol pump in Pulchowk, the Nepal-Army-run refilling station in Bhadrakali and the police-run station in Naxal.
"We are distributing in the market all the fuel we import from India," said Ramesh Koirala. "Sadly, the demand has soared to such levels, we will need an additional week´s time to bring the situation back to normal."
He told Republica that the corporation´s plan for restoring normal supply has been to distribute in the market all that it imports from Raxaul, and to also distribute the additional 50 KL of petrol that is shipped to Kathmandu from the Bhairahawa depot every day.
Because the Tharuhat strike was withdrawn on Monday, the corporation expects imports to improve, easing the corporation´s daily-supply problem. "However, because we need to supply all that we import in the market, we are having a problem with replenishing our almost dried-up stock," said Koirala.
To address this concern, the corporation had requested the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to step up supplies to Nepal from the Raxaul depot. However, citing distribution limitations, the IOC has made arrangements with the NOC to have their Nepali counterparts collect an additional 300 KL of petrol and 600 KL of diesel at Barauni. That proposed move, however, is not going according to plan. "Because of the further distance they have to travel and the higher temperatures at Barauni, which lead to more fuel evaporating, the private tanker operators have refused to move to Barauni," said Koirala.
But the corporation must replenish its stock, and it has thus diverted its tankers from Biratnagar, Janakpur and Amlekhgunj, and also hired Indian tankers, to collect the fuel from Barauni.
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