KATHMANDU, Feb 11: Ending almost three-month long 'lot system' in distribution of fuel, the government has decided to distribute 5 liters of petrol to two-wheelers and 15 liters of petrol/diesel to four-wheelers on a daily basis from Friday through every petrol pump.
Following the increase in supply of petroleum products from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the state-run oil monopoly -Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) - took the decision to this effect in view to address the fuel crunch in the market. The NOC had adopted the lot-system based fuel distribution to vehicles from the first week of November after shortage of petroleum products in the market due to the undeclared economic blockade imposed by India since last September.
The recent NOC move comes after the increase in fuel supply since the blockade was lifted from last Friday and the resumption of Birgunj-Raxaul trade point.
The Birgunj-Raxaul point is the major trade route between India and Nepal and almost 70 percent of the fuel in domestic market is supplied from Raxaul-based depot of the IOC.
“Resumption of Birgunj-Raxaul border point has led to good supply of petroleum products in the market,” Mukunda Ghimire, spokesperson of the NOC told Republica, adding, “Vehicles will be distributed fuel from all petrol pumps on regular basis from Friday, though in restricted quantity.”
According to the NOC, the IOC has been supplying more than 60 percent of the demand of fuel to Nepal on a daily basis these days. NOC officials said that though the supply of petroleum products from all other trade routes has become normal, the increasing supply from Raxaul-based depot of the IOC is yet to normalize completely.
Ghimire informed that the Raxaul-based depot of the IOC supplied 268KL, 1,310KL, 1,368KL and 1,718KL of petroleum products respectively on Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. During normal time, the Raxaul depot used to supply around 2,500KL of petroleum products on a daily basis.
“After analyzing the supply situation for next one week, we will end all forms of fuel rationings,” added Ghimire.
Meanwhile, Ghimire also said that supply of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is also increasing every day. The IOC, which supplied 36 LPG bullets on Wednesday, supplied 42 LPG bullets on Thursday, according to Ghimire. At normal time, the IOC had been supplying 60 LPG bullets to Nepal on a daily basis.
The normal daily demand of petrol and diesel in Nepal stands around 1,100KL and 2,700KL respectively. Similarly, daily demand of LPG in the market is 1,200 metric tons.
The NOC has 71,569KL storage capacity for petrol, diesel and aviation fuel across its depots in the country. The storage capacity for petrol can fulfill the demand for a week, that of diesel for 15 days and that of aviation fuel for 15 days.
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