KATHMANDU, Oct 24 -
After letting the price of petroleum products linger for about a year, the government has finally raised the prices in a range of 6 to 22 percent.
Unveiling the new rates, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) chief Digambar Jha said the corporation has raised the wholesale prices by Rs 5 per liter for petrol and Rs 3 for kerosene.
"Going by the new wholesale rates, petrol retail prices would reach about Rs 73.50 a liter and diesel and kerosene about Rs 56.25 and Rs 51.20 respectively in Kathmandu Valley," said a member of the retail pricing body of Nepal Petroleum Dealers' Association.
Talking to the Post, he said retail prices in other parts of the country would vary by a few paisa.
Likewise, the corporation has increased the retail price of cooking gas to Rs 1,100 per cylinder from Rs 900. The price of aviation fuel has been left unchanged.
The new rates come into effect from Thursday.
Even though consumers generally detest price hikes, they would probably heave a sigh of relief this time round as they have been reeling under severe fuel shortages for over six months.
"The hike has enabled debt-ridden NOC to import more fuel and address the long-running fuel shortage sooner," said Jha.
Prior to the hike, NOC was incurring a monthly loss of Rs 380 million due to losses
of Rs 4.03, Rs 7.56 and Rs 5 per liter on petrol, diesel and kerosene respectively and Rs 270 per cylinder on cooking gas.
Now the loss has come down to Rs 4 per liter for diesel, Rs 2 for kerosene and Rs 70 per cylinder for cooking gas, said Jha, adding that the corporation would earn a profit of about Rs 2 per liter of petrol.
"Most importantly, our monthly loss has gone down to Rs 70 million and, given the current international price trend, we expect the loss to decline further in November," he said.
Elaborating further on the new rates, a press release says the NOC board of directors on Wednesday evening decided to raise the wholesale prices of petrol to Rs 69.95 per liter and diesel and kerosene to Rs 53.48 and Rs 48.52 per liter respectively.
"It was an unpleasant decision to take, but given the financial pressure the corporation was reeling under due to the import-sales price disparity, we had no choice," said Jha.
He added that following the price hike decision Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has committed itself to supplying as much as NOC demands.
At present, IOC has reduced the supply to about 1,000 kiloliters a day as against a normal daily requirement of 2,000 kiloliters, demanding that NOC clear past dues and take oil for cash.
NOC data shows that it has about Rs 5 billion in dues to IOC. Likewise, it has paid merely half the monthly import bill for October.New prices of major petro products (Rs per liter)
Previous Now Impact on NOC
Petrol 67.25 73.50 Profit 2
Diesel 53.15 56.25 Loss 4
Kerosene 47.65 51.20 Loss 2
Cooking Gas 900/cylinder 1,100/cylinder Loss 70
Unveiling the new rates, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) chief Digambar Jha said the corporation has raised the wholesale prices by Rs 5 per liter for petrol and Rs 3 for kerosene.
"Going by the new wholesale rates, petrol retail prices would reach about Rs 73.50 a liter and diesel and kerosene about Rs 56.25 and Rs 51.20 respectively in Kathmandu Valley," said a member of the retail pricing body of Nepal Petroleum Dealers' Association.
Talking to the Post, he said retail prices in other parts of the country would vary by a few paisa.
Likewise, the corporation has increased the retail price of cooking gas to Rs 1,100 per cylinder from Rs 900. The price of aviation fuel has been left unchanged.
The new rates come into effect from Thursday.
Even though consumers generally detest price hikes, they would probably heave a sigh of relief this time round as they have been reeling under severe fuel shortages for over six months.
"The hike has enabled debt-ridden NOC to import more fuel and address the long-running fuel shortage sooner," said Jha.
Prior to the hike, NOC was incurring a monthly loss of Rs 380 million due to losses
of Rs 4.03, Rs 7.56 and Rs 5 per liter on petrol, diesel and kerosene respectively and Rs 270 per cylinder on cooking gas.
Now the loss has come down to Rs 4 per liter for diesel, Rs 2 for kerosene and Rs 70 per cylinder for cooking gas, said Jha, adding that the corporation would earn a profit of about Rs 2 per liter of petrol.
"Most importantly, our monthly loss has gone down to Rs 70 million and, given the current international price trend, we expect the loss to decline further in November," he said.
Elaborating further on the new rates, a press release says the NOC board of directors on Wednesday evening decided to raise the wholesale prices of petrol to Rs 69.95 per liter and diesel and kerosene to Rs 53.48 and Rs 48.52 per liter respectively.
"It was an unpleasant decision to take, but given the financial pressure the corporation was reeling under due to the import-sales price disparity, we had no choice," said Jha.
He added that following the price hike decision Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has committed itself to supplying as much as NOC demands.
At present, IOC has reduced the supply to about 1,000 kiloliters a day as against a normal daily requirement of 2,000 kiloliters, demanding that NOC clear past dues and take oil for cash.
NOC data shows that it has about Rs 5 billion in dues to IOC. Likewise, it has paid merely half the monthly import bill for October.New prices of major petro products (Rs per liter)
Previous Now Impact on NOC
Petrol 67.25 73.50 Profit 2
Diesel 53.15 56.25 Loss 4
Kerosene 47.65 51.20 Loss 2
Cooking Gas 900/cylinder 1,100/cylinder Loss 70
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