NOC submits proposal to India for construction of gas pipeline and storage infrastructure

लगानी न्यूज

१० चैत्र २०८२, मंगलवार १६:३३March 24, 2026

Kathmandu. After the United States and Israel launched a joint air strike on Iran, there was a sudden shortage of cooking gas in the capital valley.

The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), which imports, transports, stores and distributes petroleum products in the country, has directed industrialists to supply half of the cylinders to the market in an attempt to resolve the problem.TAG_OPEN_div_34

The corporation has been urging the general public not to hoard unnecessary gas as the import of LP gas has been continuing. Around 46,000 metric tonnes of cooking gas is consumed in Nepal on a monthly basis. The same quantity is also being imported every month.

The ongoing TAG_OPEN_div_30 conflict in West Asia is affecting the price and supply of petroleum products globally. However, the NOC has said that the supply of petroleum products is the same as before.

Officials of the corporation admit that there is a shortage of fuel from time to time due to lack of sufficient storage of fuel in the country.TAG_OPEN_div_28 The government has announced to construct petroleum infrastructure to meet the demand for three months. Although the storage capacity of diesel, petrol and kerosene has been increased, there is no arrangement for cooking gas yet.

Chandika Bhatta, executive director of NOC, pointed out the need to invest in storage infrastructure to avoid shortage of cooking gas in the market.TAG_OPEN_div_26 “It is imperative to build the LP gas pipeline and storage infrastructure that will last at least 30 days to Nepal,” he said.

More than TAG_OPEN_div_24 Rs 6 billion is spent annually on the supply of gas. The transportation cost is high as Nepal does not have its own gas bullets. “Billions of rupees will be saved if the gas pipeline and storage infrastructure are constructed”, said Bhatta, adding, “This will improve the supply system and make the general consumers easily accessible to gas.” ”

Although there is a national policy to build infrastructure to meet the demand for petroleum products for 3 months, it has not yet been completed. Consumer rights activist Madhav Timilsina argued that cooking gas was not easily available due to the ambiguity of petroleum storage policy and unsystematic distribution system. “We are dependent on petroleum products and we should consume more and more electricity,” he said.

Nepal has proposed to India for the construction of a gas pipeline and a storage house from Motihari to Sarlahi of India.TAG_OPEN_div_20 “We had proposed the construction of gas pipeline and storage infrastructure at the Ministry of Petroleum and Indian Oil Corporation a year ago, but we have not received any response,” Bhattarai said.

} He said that there is some ‘pressure’ in the gas due to the accumulation of ‘what will happen next’. He said, “There is no problem in the import of gas due to pressure while going to load the gas bullets.” The NOC is planning to send full cylinders to the market after a week, considering that the distribution process of cooking gas has become easier.