Kathmandu, March 1 Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel has once again directed state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) not to distribute bonus to its staff citing its entire focus at the moment should be on normalising fuel supply situation. The finance minister yesterday met with NOC Acting Deputy Managing Director Sushil Bhattarai and two other senior officials, including Mukunda Ghimire, and told them not to pursue the bonus issue at the moment, the minister’s Press Secretary Mohan Chapagain said. Paudel had called Bhattarai to his office, instead of NOC Managing Director Gopal Bahadur Khadka, as Khadka is not in the country at the moment. “During the meeting, the minister told NOC officials to end fuel crisis by increasing supply instead of focusing on bonus issue. The minister also said he was willing to use diplomatic channels to end the crisis, if that was needed,” Chapagain said The meeting was held at a time when NOC staffers have moved the apex court to lay claim on bonus that could be distributed from the profit made in the last fiscal year. “After listening to the minister, the NOC officials said they would not pursue the matter,” said Chapagain. This is the second time Finance Minister Paudel had directed NOC not to distribute the bonus amount. NOC, the petroleum supply monopoly, earlier this year, had set aside around Rs 900 million, or six per cent of the profit of around Rs 15 billion generated in the last fiscal year, as bonus for its employees. Although the company had generated profit in the last fiscal year, its balance sheet is still in red because of accumulation of huge cumulative losses in the past. NOC’s cumulative loss currently stands at Rs 17.80 billion. NOC has been suffering losses since fiscal year 2002-03, except for once in fiscal 2008-09, when it had generated a profit of Rs 3.31 billion due rapid fall in international oil prices. Last fiscal year too NOC had generated profit because of sharp drop in international oil prices. Despite plunge in oil prices in the international market in the last fiscal, NOC had refrained from making adjustments to retail prices of fuel, which also gave a boost to its profit. Accumulation of profit has enabled NOC to repay debt of various financial institutions and contractual savings institutions. However, it still owes around Rs 12.64 billion to the government. “The Ministry of Finance (MoF) is mulling over directing NOC to repay around Rs two billion in principal amount to the government this fiscal, as the government’s income has suffered lately because of supply disruptions along the border points,” an MoF source said.