KATHMANDU, MAY 14

The Nepal Oil Corporation has raised the price of petroleum products with effect from Sunday.

Issuing a notice late this evening, the NOC stated that the company had been bearing heavy losses in the import of petroleum products and had decided to hike prices of petrol, diesel, and kerosene each by Rs 10 per litre.

Following the revision, petrol will cost Rs 170 per litre, while diesel and kerosene will cost Rs 153 a litre each. However, prices of LPG and aviation fuel have not been changed.

According to NOC, the company is currently purchasing petrol at Rs 184.36 per litre, diesel at Rs 184 a litre, kerosene at Rs 140 per litre, domestic aviation fuel at Rs 143.36 a litre, international aviation fuel at Rs 123.78 per litre, and LPG at Rs 2,650.18 a litre from the Indian Oil Corporation.

Despite the increase in fuel prices in the domestic market, the NOC has clarified that it will still face losses of Rs 14.36 per litre on petrol and Rs 31.44 a litre on diesel. While it will make profits of Rs 12.64 per litre each on kerosene and domestic aviation fuel and Rs 64.69 a litre on international aviation fuel, it will incur a loss of Rs 1,050.18 per cylinder of cooking gas.

The NOC has to pay Rs 31 billion to IOC for fuel purchase by May 23. It was short of Rs 12.49 billion to meet its full payment of Rs 25 billion on May 8. The NOC had speculated a loss of Rs 5.19 billion over the next 15 days if the prices were not revised.

Despite the revision, it will still incur a loss to the tune of Rs 4.25 billion over the coming fortnight, as per the notice.

Stating that the NOC is short of funds to purchase fuel from the IOC, the corporation has called on the government tomanage funds or make arrangements for subsidised loans from financial institutions to meet its payment obligations.

A version of this article appears in the print on May 15, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.