KATHMANDU, JUNE 16
Nepali consumers better brace themselves for surge in fuel prices in the coming days as Nepal Oil Corporation NOC has said fuel subsidy should be done away with to facilitate import and distribution of petroleum products.
Issuing a notice today, the NOC has said that the corporation may have to fix the prices of petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas at their import price in order to maintain the distribution of fuel in the country if the fuel prices continue to increase in the international market.
Meanwhile, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has sent its revised price list for petroleum products to the NOC, effective from today for the fortnight.
According to the new rate list, the import price of petrol has been jacked up by Rs 6.52 per litre, diesel by Rs 19.02 per litre, and aviation fuel by Rs 19.91 per litre.
Comparing it to retail fuel prices in the domestic market, NOC is facing a loss of Rs 31.28 per litre in petrol, Rs 37.16 per litre in diesel, two rupees in domestic aviation fuel. Similarly, the NOC is incurring a loss of Rs 751.14 in LPG per cylinder.
The NOC has stated that the corporation has estimated a total loss of Rs 4.81 billion over the next 15 days and Rs 9.62 billion over a period of month if the prices in the domestic market are unchanged.
At present, petrol is priced at Rs 178 per litre, diesel at Rs 165 per litre, kerosene at Rs 165 per litre, domestic aviation fuel at Rs 166 per litre and LPG per cylinder at Rs 1,800 in the local market. Furthermore, the NOC has forecast its loss would balloon to Rs 55 billion to Rs 66 billion by mid-July.
NOC officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 17, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
