The fresh petroleum supply rates that Indian Oil Corporation forwarded to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) as per the bilateral agreement has raised the import rates of diesel by more than Rs 2 per liter.[break]
“At the present retail rates, this change has forced NOC to suffer a loss of Rs 11.30 per liter of diesel,” said Mukunda Dhungel, spokesperson at the state-owned petroleum monopolist.
The new import rate has also made petrol expensive by more than 50 paisa per liter. “This has widened our loss on petrol to Rs 5.59 per liter,” Dhungel added.
NOC officials attributed the upward revision in fuel prices to rise in crude prices over the last 15 days. On Wednesday, Brent crude was priced at more than $102 a barrel, whereas on February 1 it had hovered around US$ 96 per barrel. On the other hand, Nepal´s retail prices represent crude prices at around $75 a barrel.
As IOC did not effect any changes on rates of kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), NOC´s profit on kerosene remains unchanged at 80 paisa per liter and loss for a cylinder (14.2 kg) of LPG stand at Rs 357.
“The loss jumped sharply because diesel, in which the price was raised the most, makes more than two-thirds of total fossil fuel Nepal consumes,” said Dhungel.
The corporation estimates that it will import 111,000 kiloliters of fossil fuel during the month.
Given the situation, NOC officials said there is an urgent need to adjust domestic petroleum prices, if the government is to escape its pressure on the fiscal front and prevent fuel shortage in the market.
NOC Managing Director Digambhar Jha had been persistently seeking nod from the previous government to raise at least the price of petrol by Rs 5 per liter.
“Past government paid no heed and the new government is still to take a full shape. Unfortunately, this apathy and vacuum could cost the country dearly, and yet no one is serious,” said a NOC official, requesting not to be named.
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