Kathmandu. Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has urged one and all not to hoard cooking gas cylinders unnecessarily, citing the ease of supply of cooking gas (LPG) in the market. Stating that the supply of cylinders is more than the average demand of the Kathmandu Valley at present, the NOC has said that the situation will be normal in a few days.

“There is an average demand of 35,000 to 37,000 cylinders per day in the Kathmandu Valley, but now we are supplying 5,000 to 8,000 more cylinders on an average,” said NOC Director Binit Mani Upadhyaya.

As many as 22 gas factories in the Kathmandu Valley were selling 47,388 gas cylinders on August 18, NOC said. Likewise, 52,576 cylinders were sold in Kathmandu Valley on August 17. That’s about 15,000 more than the daily average.

The NOC has been selling 309,553 cylinders in the last one week i.e. from August 11 to the evening of August 17. This is more than 44,000 per day.

According to industrialists, there is no problem of gas supply at present. In February, the government started selling half-filled LPG cylinders to solve the problem after the import of cooking gas decreased due to external reasons. Its effect is only visible now. But it doesn’t last long.

Krishna Bhakta Shrestha, president of the LP Gas Industry Association of Nepal, said that it has become easier after the purchase of LPG through dealers from Monday. According to him, all the problems are expected to be resolved within a week.

More than TAG_OPEN_strong_23 40 lakh cylinders sold in July

According to the corporation, around 1.10 lakh cylinders are sold daily across the country. However, in the current fiscal year, 57,316 metric tonnes of LP gas i.e. 4 lakh 36 thousand 364 cylinders have been sold.

This is about 29 percent compared to the previous year 2082÷83. That’s 3 percent more.  In the last fiscal year, 44,318 metric tonnes LP gas (LPG) or 3,120,986 cylinders were sold. Similarly, in the previous fiscal year 2081÷82, 45,735 metric tonnes or 3,220,775 metric tonnes cylinders were sold.

Sales from March to June

According to NOC, 38,800 metric tonnes of cooking gas was imported in April-April last year. Out of this, 54,64,789 units of half-filled cylinders were sold from various industries. Whereas, 48,327 metric tonnes of LPG was imported in April 2081 and 3,403,310 fully filled cylinders were sold.

Likewise, Nepal imported 32,056 metric tonnes cooking gas in April last year and 46,503 metric tonnes in April last year. Similarly, the country imported 33,842 metric tonnes in May this year and 49,816 metric tonnes in the same period last year. Similarly, 44,544 metric tonnes of cooking gas was imported in the same period last year compared to 47,933 metric tonnes in the same period last year.