NOC saves Rs 3 billion due to pipeline but consumers pay all time high

Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) saved fuel transport costs of Rs 3 billion in last two years after the construction of 69-kilometer cross-border petroleum pipeline between Nepal and India, but the consumers have been paying all time high price.

The first petroleum pipeline that connects Motihari in India to Amlekhgunj in Nepal has been operational since September 11, 2019. "It can supply petroleum products at the rate of 294 kiloliters per hour," according to the government oil monopoly.

The pipeline is being used to transport diesel from India, the NOC informed, adding that it has been importing an average of 3,500 kl diesel daily, almost half of its capacity to transport 6.500 kl daily. "The NOC imported 1.61 billion liters of diesel through the pipeline in the fiscal years 2019-20 and 2020-21."

In almost two months of the current fiscal year, the NOC has imported a total of 124.41 million liters of diesel through the pipeline.

Likewise, the NOC also informed that it costs an average of Rs 45,000 to transport fuel from the Barauni depot of India to Amlekhgunj of Nepal. "The pipeline has helped cut the costs of fuel tankers apart from reducing technical losses," the NOC claimed. But the consumers have been got no any respite as they have been forced to pay Rs 130 per litre petrol and Rs 113 per litre diesel.

The first cross-border petroleum pipeline in South Asia was built at a total cost of Rs 5.18 billion.