Industry

The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has said that it has arrears of Rs 21 billion to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) till the last of August for the purchase of petroleum products.

The NOC's failure to make timely payment to the IOC has increased the due amount. The NOC claims it has been incurring heavy losses in the sale of petroleum products for long.

NOC Spokesperson Binitmani Upadhyay said that the accessible supply of petroleum products by clearing the dues to the IOC is a challenge for NOC. 

The government had doled out Rs 7 billion in loans to the NOC some weeks ago as the NOC had no money to purchase petroleum products after its reserve funds remained empty. 

Likewise, the NOC had taken Rs 3 billion in loan from Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) to ensure accessible supply of petroleum products.

Meanwhile, the NOC has hiked the price of diesel and kerosene from last midnight. With the new price list, per litre diesel and kerosene will cost Rs 178. The amount was Rs 172 earlier.

However, the price of other petroleum products including cooking gas, petrol, and aviation fuel is unchanged.

The NOC claimed that it will witness Rs 610 million in lost in a month even after the latest price adjustment on petroleum goods. 

The price of petroleum products has again started to go up in the international market since two weeks. - RSS