Private gas stations refuse to buy fuel from NOC, fuel shortage likely

KATHMANDU, March 4: Private sector petroleum entrepreneurs are agitated after the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) decided not to increase the commission for petrol pumps, following the increase in crude oil prices in the international market. 

According to Chairman Lilendra Pradhan of the Nepal Petroleum Dealers Association, petroleum dealers have decided not to buy petroleum products from NOC unless the commissions are distributed again. 

Although the private petrol pumps have refused to procure petroleum products, fuel stations owned by government entities and the NOC have already refueled their stations. On Friday, the Nepal Army, Nepal Police, and fuel stations owned by government entities and bodies were refueled with over 52834.4105 gallons of diesel and petrol from the NOC depot in Thankot. 

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Petroleum entrepreneurs staged protests after the NOC decided to cut their commissions. There is a system to get a higher commission with the increase in fuel prices and a lower commission with a decrease in fuel prices. 

The commission for petrol station entrepreneurs had reached above Rs six per liter. With the recent hike in petroleum products, the commission was estimated to increase by 15 to 20 paisa per liter. After the NOC’s board of directors decided to halt the increase of commission any further, the petrol pump entrepreneurs have taken to the streets. The price of one liter of petrol has reached a record high of Rs 150 per liter inside the country. The NOC increased the prices of petrol, diesel, and kerosene by Rs five each effective from Thursday night. 

With the recent hike, the price of kerosene and diesel has reached Rs 133 per liter. Similarly, the price of aviation fuel has increased by Rs 10 for domestic airlines and by USD 100 for international airlines per kiloliter. Meanwhile, the price of LPG has remained the same. 

On Thursday, the price of crude oil reached USD 117 per barrel in the international market. Despite the recent hike in fuel prices, the NOC faces a loss of Rs 2.5 billion in 15 days.