KATHMANDU, March 16: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) on Wednesday received a record high purchase price of petroleum products from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
As per the IOC sent new price list, the NOC shall pay Rs 182.81 per liter for petrol, Rs 169.44 for diesel, Rs 113.49 for kerosene, Rs 131.94 for aviation turbine fuel (domestic) and Rs 114.51 per liter for aviation turbine fuel (international). Similarly, it will cost NOC with Rs 2,240.34 per cylinder of the cooking gas including the various taxes.
With the hike in prices, NOC is expected to incur a loss of Rs 10.61 billion from the business of the petroleum products in the next one month,, according to NOC Spokesperson Binit Mani Upadhyaya.
IOC sends increased price list of petroleum products
As per the new price lists, the NOC has incurred a loss of Rs 32.81 on petrol per liter, Rs 36.44 on diesel and Rs 665.34 per filled gas cylinder. However, it enjoys a profit of Rs 19.51 on kerosene per liter, Rs 4.6 per liter on aviation fuel (domestic) and Rs 43.84 on aviation fuel (international). Despite gaining profit in kerosene and aviation fuel, these contribute a minimal amount on maintaining the financial health of the state-own oil supplier.
Nepal has consumed 32,915 kiloliters petrol, 86,910 kiloliters diesel, 770 kiloliters kerosene, 2,779 kiloliters aviation fuel (domestic), 4,000 kiloliters aviation fuel (international) and 1,899,278 cylinders of cooking gas in 15 days period, the NOC has estimated.
Currently, petrol is available in the market at Rs 150 per liter. Similarly, the price of diesel and kerosene is Rs 133 each, Rs 136 aviation fuel (domestic), 1.29 dollar aviation fuel (international) and Rs 1,575 per filled gas cylinder.
The government has been levying various taxes on the import of petroleum products at the customs point. The government has been imposing Rs 59.48 in tax on petrol per liter, Rs 42.16 on diesel, Rs 13.36 on kerosene and Rs 19.49 on aviation fuel (domestic).
Similarly, the government has been levying tax of Rs 2.8 per liter on aviation fuel (international) and Rs 280.30 per cylinder on the cooking gas. The various taxes levied on petroleum products are related to road maintenance, pollution and VAT and price stabilization fund, among others.
The sales price of petroleum products is determined by adding the transport fare, administrative and sales expenses of the corporation along with the costs of insurance, technical loss and profit for the sellers.
