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Kathmandu Tuesday January 16, 2001 Magh 03, 2057.
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LPG shortage may ease by weekend
Post Report
KATHMANDU, Jan 15 - The mounting Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) shortage may
enjoy a short respite, as an additional 200 metric tons of cooking gas will arrives in the
Kathmandu Valley at the end of this week.
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) had arranged for the import of 200 metric tons of
cooking gas from Haldia, India, to meet the widening demand and supply gap for the cooking
gas. A small fraction of the procurement has trickled into the Capital so far.
Ajit Kr Jha, senior engineer with Nepal Gas Udyog, said, "As we have
already procured the gas, we expect it to arrive in Kathmandu by the weekend." He
also commented that the second trench of import, consisting of 36 metric tons would arrive
here by Tuesday.
The arrangement is only a short-term crisis management measure and will not
address the problem in the long run. "The present supply is not enough to cope with
the rising demand," Subhas Khetan, Treasurer of LP Gas Association (LPGA) said. The
shortage will not subside unless an additional 1000 metric tonnes of gas are imported
immediately and 4000 metric tons are imported every month thereafter," The LPG
shortage has continued unabated for the last three months with NOC officials and gas
dealers blaming each other for the protracted shortage.
NOC strongly asserts that it has been supplying sufficient LPG to meet
domestic demand. "Since the Barauni refinery is functioning smoothly, NOC has been
importing 3,500 tons per month, which is enough to cope with the increased demand,"
Madan Raj Sharma, Executive Director of NOC. The perceived shortage is due to poor a
distribution network of private gas distributors, he added. NOC recently raised its
monthly LPG imports from 2500 tons to 3500 tons. Sharma pointed to this week’s gas
import delay by Nepal Gas Udhyog as a case in point. "We arranged for 200 additional
tons of gas supply from Haldia refinery as per the demands of Nepal Gas Udyog, however, it
took over a week for Nepal Gas to import it," Sharma said.
However, dealers counter-charged NOC, the state-owned monopoly, in the import
of petroleum products, to be working to fulfil its vested interest. " NOC is trying
to project the private sector as inefficient in the internal supply of gas so that it
could be used as a pretext for it to enter into the gas supply business," said Jha.
NOC has already decided to establish its own bottling plant to start its
distribution network but this is yet to be sanctioned by the government.
The nation has been facing an acute LPG shortage since October, when NOC, the
monopolist importer of petroleum products into the country, announced a hike in
petro-prices. A hike in the price of kerosene by 100 per cent promptly led low- income
group consumers to switch to LPG as their chief cooking fuel. Likewise, the soaring use of
LPG by industries and gas-powered vehicles has exacerbated the shortage. Currently there
are over 1000 such gas-powered vehicles (700 three-wheelers and 300 microbuses) consuming
over 500 tons of LPG monthly.
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