Kathmandu, May 9

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has increased the petrol storage capacity at its Thankot depot to ensure smooth supply of petrol in Kathmandu Valley.

By converting two kerosene tanks, each of 2,100-kilolitre capacity, into petrol reservoirs, NOC has increased storage capacity of petrol to 6,000 kilolitres from the existing 1,800 kilolitres at its Thankot depot. As NOC supplies petroleum products to Kathmandu Valley from its depot in Thankot, increased storage facility of petrol in Thankot depot is expected to ensure smooth supply of petrol in the Valley.

Due to the low storage capacity of petrol and other fuels with NOC, the petroleum supply chain in the Valley’s market is affected every time Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) cuts supplies on public holidays, basically on Saturdays and Sundays.

“With the decreasing demand of kerosene in the domestic market, large reservoirs of high capacity previously used to store kerosene had remained underutilised,” said Gopal Bahadur Khadka, managing director of NOC, adding that converting kerosene storage tanks into petrol tanks will increase storage capacity of petrol of NOC.

With increased storage capacity of petrol, NOC officials said that unexpected crunch of petrol in the domestic market for certain days can easily be coped with.

As per NOC, the daily normal demand of petrol in the Valley stands at around 450 kilolitres. Based on this figure, the 6,000-kilolitre petrol storage capacity will be able to cater to the domestic demand of petrol for at least 13 days.

NOC sources said that kerosene reservoirs in Thankot depot were converted to petrol tanks at a cost of around Rs 20 million.

Lately, NOC has been expediting the process of increasing fuel storage capacity across the country. By developing high-capacity fuel storage tanks in all provinces, NOC aims to increase the fuel storage capacity across the country to 388,000 kilolitres from the existing 71,000 kilolitres, which NOC opines will require a budget of over Rs 62 billion.

Nepal Oil Corporation plans to set up new petroleum storage tanks in Jhapa (province 1), Janakpur (province 2), Kathmandu (province 3), Pokhara (province 4), Rupandehi (province 5), Surkhet (province 6) and Dhangadi (province 7).

However, these fuel storage tanks are being constructed as per public-private partnership (PPP) model.