Kathmandu, November 6:

In order to ensure smooth supply of petroleum products, a bilateral review meeting between Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) and Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is being held in Kathmandu from November 20 for three days.

Though the forthcoming meeting has been termed as a ‘regular joint review meeting’, both the parties are understood to have comprehensive discussion on control of leakage, adulteration and strengthening supply situation.

Dr M Kanan, marketing director of IOC is leading the Indian delegation, while leader of the Nepali delegation is yet to be confirmed. “The leader of the Nepali delegation will be confirmed later, since both the top posts of NOC — executive chairman and general manager — are vacant at the moment,” said a NOC source.

According to the source, the IOC delegation is likely to ask NOC for a regular payment of monthly import bills during. As per the bilateral agreement, NOC has to clear all its import bills to IOC within 15 days of each month. But NOC has been failing to meet the deadline of payment for the last couple of months.

Meanwhile, the Indian petroleum supplier has asked the state-run NOC to pay Rs 12.5 million interest of due payment of Rs 800 million for the month of October, which the cash-strapped NOC was supposed to clear by October 15.