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Kathmandu Wednesday August 08, 2001 Shrawan 24, 2058.
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Petro-products consumption
witnesses marginal surge
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Aug 7 - The nationwide consumption
of petroleum products during the last fiscal year registered a marginal surge of less than
one per cent as compared to the consumption recorded during the previous year.
According the statistics complied by Nepal
Oil Corporation (NOC), the state-owned monopolist of importing all kinds of
petro-products, the over all consumption of seven various petroleum products, registered a
slight soar of 0.90 per cent to touch 822,915 kiloliter (KL) whereas such consumption in
the previous fiscal year was 815,550 KL. However, the total consumption is less than the
projected sales of 885,930 kiloliters for the fiscal year 2000/01.
Among the major petro-products that were
consumed, the total sales of petrol, during the period, soared by 6.63 per cent to touch
59,269 KL from 55,585 KL recorded in the previous year. The soaring numbers of light
vehicles, particularly, two wheelers and small cars, is the main cause for such rise.
Similarly, unlike the previous year, the
annual consumption of diesel also registered a surge of five per cent to scale up to
326,198 KL from 310,569 KL recorded in the previous year. Such consumption in the previous
year had recorded a nominal shrink of 1.65 per cent. The growth, however, is less than the
NOC’s projected consumption growth rate of almost nine per cent for the last fiscal
year.
The slowdown in the industrial activities
prompted mainly by the soar in the violence, particularly in the fourth quarter of the
last fiscal year, and complete withdrawal of power load-shedding were some of the leading
factors such less-than-expected increase.
Similarly, the consumption of kerosene
registered a decline of 4.45 per cent to remain at 316,381 KL from 331,120 KL recorded in
the previous year. The shift of kerosene consumers towards gas consumption is the major
reason behind such decline. After the announcement of heavy hike in the price of kerosene
as compared to increment announced in the price of cooking gas, a remarkable chunk of
kerosene users were shifted towards LPG regardless of slight increment in the total
financial burden to the consumers.
In the like manner, the consumption of
aviation fuel recorded slump of almost three per cent and remained at 55,198 KL from
56,849 KL recorded during the previous year. The sliding tourism industry, especially
cancellation and deduction of some international flights and declining number of
passengers of domestic flights are some of the chief reasons for the decline.
The double-digit tumble in the consumption of
furnace oil (FO), which is one of the principal industrial inputs, also strongly revealed
that the gloom hovering over the domestic industrial sector is further deepening. The
overall annual consumption of FO, during the period, shrunk by over 16 per cent and
remained at 22,363 KL from 26,811 KL consumed in the previous year.
Among all the petro-products, the growth in
the consumption of LPG (widely known as cooking gas) remained highest. During the period,
its consumption recorded a robust swell of almost 31 per cent to touch 40,102 tons against
the consumption of 30,627 tons recorded in the previous year.
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