However, only consumers of the far and mid-western region will enjoy the benefits for now because Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has started supplying 91-octane petrol only from the Dhangadhi depot. [break]
“Consumers in the other parts, mainly the Kathmandu Valley, too will not need to wait for long,” said NOC Spokesperson Mukunda Dhungel, “We will start supplying the high octane fuel throughout the country within a month.”
NOC officials said they could for now supply Euro III petrol from Dhangadhi depot only because of all the supply points, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the sole supplier of fossil fuel to Nepal, first managed to complete upgrading its refinery and distribution system in Banthara.
IOC has informed of getting the conversion completed in other refineries and depots like Barauni, Raxaul and Baitalpur, among others, within the next few weeks.
“IOC has already started to clean a number of its vertical tanks in Raxaul as well as a part of supplying better standard petrol,” Dhungel said.
Once IOC completes its upgrading process, Nepal will completely switch to consumption of petrol of Euro III standard. In has already replaced Euro II diesel with Euro III diesel.
The supply of 91-octane is believed to greatly relieve vehicle owners from a host of problems, such as undue wear and tear of fuel pump and engine.
Owing to low grade fuel, high-end vehicle owners have been lamenting that they are not being able to enjoy the extent of efficiency the engines were designed to deliver. Instead, the low grade fuel was making engine life shorter and causing damages, thereby increasing their operational costs.
The upgraded quality of petrol supply will bring cheers to automobiles dealers as well, because it will enable them to bring in latest brands of vehicles with sophisticated engines.
So far, leading automobiles manufacturers were denying the local dealers´ request to introduce latest brands in Nepal, mainly referring to the low quality fuel. They cited that inferior fuel quality in Nepal do not match with engine to yield promised efficiency and ensure longevity -- something which will erode their brand image.
These benefits, however, will come with added cost, because IOC has said that the price of Euro III petrol will be expensive by around Rs 1 per liter than the 87-octane petrol that NOC was supplying so far.
But as the prices of petroleum products are state-administered, the increased cost will go down as loss to NOC, unless the government chose to act sensibly. Given the benefits of high-octane petrol, NOC officials expressed the hope that consumers will not resist the due rise in prices.
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