PetroChina officials invited for talks
Kathmandu, November 3
In a bid to open commercial trade of petroleum products with the Chinese government undertaking China National United Oil Corporation (PetroChina), Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has invited officials of PetroChina in the Capital at their convenience between November 16 to 19 to finalise the technical issues.
NOC has sent a letter in this regard to PetroChina today.
NOC and PetroChina had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), in Beijing, on October 28, to import gasoline from China.
“It was a framework agreement between PetroChina and NOC,” explained Sushil Bhattarai, acting deputy managing director of NOC, adding, “Talks that are going to be held in Kathmandu will finalise the technical issues.”
NOC and PetroChina will finalise the details related to quality, quantity, price, loading capacity, loading method, and the route to bring gasoline to Nepal, among others. After signing the technical agreement with PetroChina, petroleum trade with the northern neighbour will formally begin.
Nepal has already started bringing petrol from China. However, it has been on a grant by the government of China to fuel-strapped Nepal. China has been providing load to Nepali tankers from Kyirong, which lies at a distance of 26 km from Nepali border of Rasuwagadhi, and 15 Nepali tankers have already arrived in Kathmandu with Chinese fuel.
Altogether 44 tankers were dispatched for Kyirong in the last two days to bring China granted gasoline. China has announced to provide 1,000 tonnes or 1.3 million litres of gasoline to Nepal as grant.
It is reported that Nepal will bring one-third of petroleum products from China in the long run.
Meanwhile, NOC has requested its parent ministry Ministry of Commerce and Supplies to write a letter to Bangladesh government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to bring petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation turbine fuel and liquefied petroleum gas.
Nepal and Bangladesh have signed bi-lateral trade agreements to provide preferential market access to numerous goods in the market of each-other’s countries.
Nepal and Bangladesh use Indian territory of over 52 km to and from Kakadvitta (Nepali border) to Banglabandha (inland port in northern Bangladesh). Nepal has never imported petroleum products from Bangladesh via land route.
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