Kathmandu, August 18
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has urged consumers not to unnecessarily stockpile cooking gas cylinders, saying the supply situation in the market is gradually improving and is expected to return to normal within a few days.
The corporation said the supply of LPG cylinders in Kathmandu Valley is currently higher than the average daily demand. “The average daily demand in Kathmandu Valley is 35,000 to 37,000 cylinders, but we are currently supplying an additional 5,000 to 8,000 cylinders on average,” said NOC Director Binit Mani Upadhyay.
According to the corporation, 22 gas companies in Kathmandu Valley are selling 47,388 cylinders on Monday. A total of 52,576 cylinders were sold in the valley on Sunday, around 15,000 more than the daily average.
The NOC said 309,553 cylinders were sold in the valley over the past week, from Shrawan 27 to the evening of Bhadra 2. This amounts to an average of more than 44,000 cylinders per day.
Industry operators said the current gas shortage is not due to supply problems. They said gas imports had declined in Falgun due to external factors, prompting the government to introduce the sale of partially filled cylinders to address the shortage. The effects of that measure are being felt now, but the situation is not expected to persist for long.
Krishnabhakta Shrestha, president of the LPG Gas Industry Association Nepal, said the situation has improved significantly since gas began being sold through dealers on Monday. He said the problems are expected to be resolved within a week.
According to the NOC, around 110,000 LPG cylinders are normally sold across the country each day. However, 57,316 metric tonnes of LPG, equivalent to 4,036,364 cylinders, were sold in Shrawan of the current fiscal year alone.
This was around 29.3 per cent higher than sales in Shrawan of fiscal year 2082/83, when 44,318 metric tonnes of LPG, equivalent to 3,120,986 cylinders, were sold.
Similarly, 45,735 metric tonnes of LPG, equivalent to 3,220,775 cylinders, were sold in Shrawan of fiscal year 2081/82 BS.
According to the NOC, 38,800 metric tonnes of LPG were imported in Chaitra last year, during which 5,464,789 partially filled cylinders were sold by various companies. In contrast, 48,327 metric tonnes of LPG were imported in Chaitra 2081 BS, when 3,403,310 filled cylinders were sold.
Similarly, 32,056 metric tonnes of LPG were imported in Baisakh this year, compared with 46,503 metric tonnes in Baisakh last year. Imports stood at 33,842 metric tonnes in Jestha this year, compared with 49,816 metric tonnes in Jestha last year.
In Ashad this year, 44,544 metric tonnes of LPG were imported, compared with 47,933 metric tonnes in Ashad last year.
—RSS
