Kathmandu, April 25:

With petroleum dealers beginning to pick up oil supply from the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), oil supply within the Kathmandu valley has seen marked improvement today.

More than 100,000 litres of petrol, 72,000 litres of diesel and 250,000 litres of kerosene have been supplied to various petrol pumps since the morning, informed Icha Bikram Thapa, deputy director of NOC.

More than 500 kilolitres of petrol, diesel and kerosene are on the way to Kathmandu, informed Thapa. Oil tankers were filled at Raxaul depot before April 5, but they could not be brought to Kathmandu due to the strike, Thapa said.

Most petroleum dealers have not been procuring petroleum products from the NOC stores in the last couple of days as a sign of solidarity to the agitation, despite NOC holding enough oil stock.

“The general strike, curfew and obstruction in vehicular movement have been the constraints in supplying petroleum products despite NOC holding sufficient stocks,” said Thapa. Disagreeing with earlier news reports, he said, the present NOC stock is sufficient to supply petroleum products to the valley for more than two weeks.

Hikmat Bahadur Mali, former president of Nepal Petroleum Dealers’ Association (NPDA), said that due to unfavourable conditions, petroleum product carriers have found it difficult to move about, leading to the short supply. Tankers carrying fuels are now reaching petrol pumps, he informed.

In recent times, NOC has been forced to decrease its stock in order to lighten its financial burdens. At present NOC only stocks 4,000 kilolitres of diesel, 5,000 kilolitres of kerosene and 1,000 kilo litres of petrol. Earlier the stock used to be 6,300, 7,000 and 1,500 kilolitres, respectively.

NOC currently owes more than four billion rupees in dues to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the sole supplier of petroleum products to NOC and Nepal. NOC also owes about Rs 4.5 billion to commercial banks in the form of loans it had earlier taken to pay back IOC dues.

At present NOC only stocks 4,000 kilolitres of diesel, 5,000 kilolitres of kerosene and 1,000 kilo litres of petrol. Earlier the stock used to be 6,300, 7,000 and 1,500 kilolitres, respectively.