Valley headed for shortage of petroleum

The Kathmandu Valley may once again face a shortage of petroleum products. “The import of petroleum products may drop due to a new price-list that Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has received from its supplier today,” Digambar Jha, managing director of NOC, said on February 16. The new price list NOC received from Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has hiked the rate. According to the new price-list, NOC will incur a loss of Rs 1.13 billion (US$25 million) this month. However, NOC loss would have been Rs 968.3 million (US$21.4 million), as per IOC price-list of February 1. (February 16, 2011)