Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has said that it has to pay Rs 21 billion till last of August to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for the purchase of petroleum products.
The amount to be paid to IOC has gone up due to NOC’s failure to pay on time due to a heavy loss in sale of petroleum products for long. NOC’s Spokesperson Binitmani Upadhyay said accessible supply of petroleum products by clearing the dues to IOC is a challenge for NOC.
The government had doled out Rs 7 billion in loan to the NOC some weeks ago as NOC had no money to purchase petroleum products after its reserve funds remained empty. Likewise, NOC had taken Rs 3 billion in loan from Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) to ensure accessible supply of petroleum products.
Meanwhile, NOC has hiked the price of diesel and kerosene from last midnight. With the new price list, per litre diesel and kerosene will cost Rs 178 from Rs 172 of the past.
However, price of other petroleum products including cooking gas, petrol and aviation fuel is unchanged. NOC claimed that it will witness Rs 610 million loss per month even after the latest price adjustment on petroleum goods.
The price of petroleum products has again started to go up in the international market for past two weeks though it was in decreasing trend in previous weeks.
