KATHMANDU: Due to reduction in the cost price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) — the state-owned petroleum supply monopoly — will generate more profit in the month of July compared to the previous months.

NOC’s loss in LPG, which is popularly known as cooking gas, is projected to go down significantly to Rs 13 million from Rs 46.5 million incurred last month, as per the new price update sent by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on July 1.

NOC will incur a loss of Rs 17.28 on the sale of each cylinder of cooking gas this month, compared to Rs 61.93 in June.

While NOC receives revised price list of petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel every fortnight, the import bill of LPG remains constant for a month. IOC, which is the sole supplier of NOC, sends price update of petrol, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel on the first and 16th working day of the English calendar based on the international market price.

According to NOC Spokesperson Mukunda Ghimire, import bill of petrol and diesel will also drop by Re 0.80 and Re 0.71, respectively, on each litre. NOC will make a profit of Rs 10.12 on the sale of each litre of petrol and Rs 4.04 on diesel. NOC has estimated that its monthly profit will stand at Rs 622.9 million in July, compared to Rs 573.2 million in June.

Despite the reduced import bill of fuel compared to the previous month, NOC has said that it will not slash fuel prices this fortnight citing it had kept fuel prices stable since the devastating earthquake of April 25, even though fuel prices had gone up in the months of May and June.

In the 10-month period of this fiscal, NOC earned net profit of Rs four billion. So far, it has collected additional Rs 2.60 billion in the price stabilisation fund — a fund set up to tackle volatility of fuel prices in the international market— after the enforcement of the automatic pricing mechanism for petrol, diesel and kerosene, on September 29, 2014.

NOC is going to make a profit this fiscal for the first time after 2008-09, capitalising on the downtrend of fuel prices in the international market. As per the automatic pricing mechanism, NOC will not jack up or reduce fuel price by more than two per cent of the

current market price while revising the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene. NOC can revise the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene every fortnight.

Automatic pricing in ATF soon

KATHMANDU: Minister for Commerce and Supplies Sunil Bahadur Thapa has said that his ministry is preparing to enforce automatic pricing mechanism for aviation turbine fuel (ATF), almost a year after the enforcement of the system for petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Talking to The Himalayan Times, Minister Thapa said that dual pricing in cooking gas — depending on household or commercial consumption — and automatic pricing for ATF will be launched soon. Dual pricing in cooking gas has been in a limbo since long.

However, the Cabinet has already approved the proposal submitted by the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies to launch dual pricing in cooking gas.