Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi will virtually inaugurate the first cross-border petroleum pipeline in South Asia tomorrow through video conference.
According to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS), the formal inauguration will be marked by pressing a switch button via remote control by the executive heads of both countries through a live video conference connected simultaneously in between the Prime Minister’s Office at Singha Durbar in Kathmandu and Office of the Indian Prime Minister in New Delhi.
“The two heads of states are scheduled to press the pipeline switch that opens the valve of the petroleum pipeline at the presence of high-level government dignitaries of both countries at the conference,” informed NOC deputy executive director Sushil Bhattarai.
The Amlekhgunj-based oil depot of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) and Motihari-based depot of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will witness the official ceremony of inauguration on the ground by handing over a bottle of diesel from the pipeline among the officers of the IOC and NOC.
The NOC and IOC had successfully concluded the ‘testing transfer’ of the Motihari-Amlekhgunj pipeline project last month. The IOC – through its refinery in Motihari – had supplied diesel to NOC’s Amlekhgunj-based depot last month during the testing transfer. However, NOC had unloaded only 1,000 kilolitres of the 3,100 kilolitres of diesel supplied by IOC via the pipeline to test the newly constructed tanks at Amlekhgunj.
According to the NOC, the pipeline is able to supply 394 kilolitres of petroleum products per hour. “In the initial phase, NOC plans to receive only diesel, which is about the 70 per cent of total petroleum product imports, through the pipeline,” the NOC informed, adding that some 3,000 kilolitres of diesel will be imported per day through the pipeline, after the pipeline is formally inaugurated.
Though, the Motihari-Amlekhgunj oil pipeline was first proposed in 1996, it finally took off during Indian Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Kathmandu in 2014. The two governments inked an agreement to construct the first cross border pipeline – that is expected to reduce the cost of transportation of petroleum products worth Rs 1 billion – in the South Asia in August 2015. But, the project construction was again delayed due to devastating earthquake of 2015. “After the commercial operation of the pipeline, it will bring down fuel price by at least Re 1 per litre in the domestic market,” according to the NOC.
According to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies (MoICS), the formal inauguration will be marked by pressing a switch button via remote control by the executive heads of both countries through a live video conference connected simultaneously in between the Prime Minister’s Office at Singha Durbar in Kathmandu and Office of the Indian Prime Minister in New Delhi.
“The two heads of states are scheduled to press the pipeline switch that opens the valve of the petroleum pipeline at the presence of high-level government dignitaries of both countries at the conference,” informed NOC deputy executive director Sushil Bhattarai.
The Amlekhgunj-based oil depot of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) and Motihari-based depot of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) will witness the official ceremony of inauguration on the ground by handing over a bottle of diesel from the pipeline among the officers of the IOC and NOC.
The NOC and IOC had successfully concluded the ‘testing transfer’ of the Motihari-Amlekhgunj pipeline project last month. The IOC – through its refinery in Motihari – had supplied diesel to NOC’s Amlekhgunj-based depot last month during the testing transfer. However, NOC had unloaded only 1,000 kilolitres of the 3,100 kilolitres of diesel supplied by IOC via the pipeline to test the newly constructed tanks at Amlekhgunj.
According to the NOC, the pipeline is able to supply 394 kilolitres of petroleum products per hour. “In the initial phase, NOC plans to receive only diesel, which is about the 70 per cent of total petroleum product imports, through the pipeline,” the NOC informed, adding that some 3,000 kilolitres of diesel will be imported per day through the pipeline, after the pipeline is formally inaugurated.
Though, the Motihari-Amlekhgunj oil pipeline was first proposed in 1996, it finally took off during Indian Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Kathmandu in 2014. The two governments inked an agreement to construct the first cross border pipeline – that is expected to reduce the cost of transportation of petroleum products worth Rs 1 billion – in the South Asia in August 2015. But, the project construction was again delayed due to devastating earthquake of 2015. “After the commercial operation of the pipeline, it will bring down fuel price by at least Re 1 per litre in the domestic market,” according to the NOC.
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