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Chinese researchers report natural gas reserve in Nepal’s Dailekh

gas-dailekh

Kathmandu, December 11

Pockets of Dailekh, a district 700 km west of Kathmandu, have reserves of natural gas, a study conducted by Chinese researchers has found.

An initial report of the Nepal-China cooperation study was submitted to Beijing few days ago, and was made available to Nepal this week. Nepal’s officials say the findings are ‘encouraging’.

According to the report, the gas found in Dailekh is different from the methane found under areas of Kathmandu. The gas found in Dailekh can directly be bottled and sold to consumers, the report says.

Although lot has been said about the prospect of petroleum exploration in Nepal, this is the first time natural gas has been found in the country.

The Chinese researchers, who were in Nepal in November last year, collected samples of rocks from different areas of Nepal and took them to their lab in China, where they analysed them. They then submitted the report to the Chinese government after which it was forwarded to Nepal’s Ministry of Industries.

Natural gas had been reported in Dailekh’s Shristhan, Dhuleshwor and Paduka for a long time. According to locals, in Shristhan, a natural flame has been burning for over 300-odd years, reportedly on natural gas.

Ministry officials say they are now waiting for the detailed report from the Chinese side. They expect the dossier to be available within a few weeks.

“We are now certain that we have gas in Dailekh. But we do not know how feasible its extraction would be,” said a ministry official. “We will have to wait for the detailed report before we jump to any conclusions,” he said.

The official said that if the second report is positive about the commercial viability of extracting gas, the government will commission another study to look into the details.

Following last year’s Indian blockade, which lasted for five months, the then KP Oli government had invited China to look into prospects of petroleum extraction in Nepal.

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