KATHMANDU, April 2: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has reduced the price of petrol, diesel and kerosene by Rs 10 per liter. The new prices came into effect from Wednesday midnight.

With the revision, petrol costs Rs 96 per liter, while diesel and kerosene each cost Rs 85 a liter.

The state-owned oil monopoly took the decision amid widespread criticism for its reluctance to reduce price despite the free fall of oil prices in the international market.

This is probably the largest drop in fuel prices in Nepal. NOC so far had been revising fuel prices only nominally even if price fell by a huge margin in the international market. The monopoly used to make excuses like difference in prices in Nepal and India or automatic pricing mechanism which talks about revising prices only by up to 2%.According to Binit Mani Upadhyaya, the spokesperson for the NOC, the public enterprise reduced the fuel price in line with the price lists received from its Indian supplier – Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) -- on Wednesday. The IOC revises prices of petroleum products every fortnight.

Likewise, the NOC has also slashed the prices of aviation fuel sold to international and domestic carriers by US$ 0.05 and Rs 15 per liter, respectively. After the revision, the price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is Rs 75 per liter for domestic carriers $0.95 a liter for international airlines.

Triggered by multiple reasons, including impacts of COVID-19 outbreak and the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, prices of petroleum products are lately on a free fall in the global market. According to Reuters, the crude oil price on Monday tumbled to $ 20.09 a barrel, the lowermost price after November 2002, as investors faced growing prospect that the global coronavirus shutdown could last for months, squeezing demand for fuel.Crude oil prices are reported to have fallen by 69% since January when the price stood at US$ 64 a barrel.

 
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