Kathmandu, October 26

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) is preparing to end the quota system being imposed on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) bottlers while importing the cooking gas from the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

With IOC assuring to supply LPG as per the domestic demand from different refineries, NOC will soon end such quota system for bottlers, according to Gopal Khadka, managing director of NOC.

Currently, NOC issues Product Delivery Order (PDO) certificate to 55 LPG industries operating in the country by fixing the LPG quota on the basis of capacity of individual bottler and the number of their LPG cylinders that are circulated in the market. However, NOC believes that such quota would be irrelevant now as IOC is supplying the cooking gas as per demand.

“IOC has vowed to supply LPG as per our demand. In this context, we are preparing to allow bottlers to import as much LPG as they can by cancelling the import quota,” said Khadka. According to him, ending the quota restriction would not only increase the flow of LPG in the domestic market, but would also put an end to the allegations against NOC that it doesn’t fix the LPG import quota as per the capacity of the bottlers.

Time and again, NOC has been charged of issuing less number of PDOs to big LPG bottlers and more to small bottlers, which results in recurrent shortage of cooking gas in the market.

IOC has been supplying LPG to Nepal from its refineries based in Haldia, Barauni, Mathura and Karnal. Recently, IOC has also stated supplying LPG to Nepal from its refinery based in Paradip.

Ending the quota restriction is also expected to address the increased demand of LPG during winter months. Though the country’s monthly demand of LPG normally hovers around 29,000 metric tonnes, monthly demand surges to almost 35,000 metric tonnes during the winter, according to NOC.