Nepal Oil Corporation has said that the supply of LPG for cooking will be eased from Wednesday. There had been a gas shortage in the Kathmandu Valley for the past few days. The corporation has stated that there will be no shortage now as sufficient LPG has been brought from India.

The corporation's chief executive officer, Chandika Prasad Bhatta, said that despite the gas shortage for about 10 days, that problem is no longer there. 'There are many consumers of Nepal Gas and Everest Gas in the valley, and those industries use large quantities of gas imported from India through the corporation,' he said. 'It is cold weather now, which has led to higher consumption.' He said that industries with many consumers are facing gas shortages. 'LPG comes from India, it took time to load from those places, and it took an extra day or two to verify the gas that arrived, which led to the delay in filling empty cylinders,' he said. 'India's Republic Day falls on 12th Magh and refineries and bottling plants that import gas will be closed on Sunday, which has affected Nepal.' He said that despite joint monitoring by the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection and the Oil Corporation on suspicion of hiding gas due to the shortage, no large amount of gas was found in stock.

Ramkrishna Khadka of Lolang Height, Tarakeshwor Municipality-6, has been selling Namaste gas. He said that he sent the cylinder to the industry a month ago to fill it, but it has not arrived yet. ‘It has been a month since there has been a gas shortage,’ he said, ‘We have received information that it will no longer be a problem.’ 

The Oil Corporation has stated that it has provided gas from India to 60 industries across the country. Currently, 49,500 metric tons of gas are coming from India monthly. This is 49.5 million kg. ‘Every day, 85 to 90 bullets (gas tankers) bring gas from India,’ said Chief Executive Officer Bhatta, ‘Last Tuesday, 138 bullets carrying gas have arrived.’ 

According to him, 105 gas bullets arrived on Wednesday, 90 on Thursday, 78 on Friday and 118 on Saturday. ‘We need 85 to 90 gas bullets every day,’ he said, ‘on an average, 70 to 100 bullets carrying gas are coming every day.’ Gas is coming from five places in India. The largest number comes from the Barauni refinery in India. Then gas comes from Mathura, Durgapur, Paradip and Haldia. One bullet carries 18 metric tons of gas. This amount of gas can fill 1,200 cylinders. According to the corporation, LPG worth Rs 203.4 million is currently being imported from India every day. 

The corporation says that as soon as there is a gas shortage in some big industries, consumers consume more cylinders. ‘Up to four/five cylinders are kept in one house like this, we have appealed to consumers not to do this,’ he said, ‘Monitoring is ongoing by visiting big gas vendors.’ 

Bhatta informed that monitoring is being carried out on suspicion that gas is being hidden so that it can be sold at a higher price during the election. ‘We have not found anything like that during the monitoring so far,’ he said, ‘The gas problem has been seen only in the Kathmandu Valley, and it has now been resolved.’ 60 industries across the country consume 500 to 2,400 metric tons of gas per day. According to the Corporation’s data, LPG consumption is increasing by 8 to 10 percent every year. 

Although there was a gas shortage for some time in the beginning, it is gradually easing, said Diwan Chand, president of the Nepal LP Gas Industry Association. ‘This problem was there for 15/20 days ago,’ he said, ‘Now bullets carrying gas are coming, and work is underway to fill empty cylinders.’ He said that the shortage occurred because the gas bullets did not arrive from India on time as there are many consumers of Nepal Gas. ‘The gas problem will be resolved within a few days, Nepal Gas has sent 10,000 cylinders to the market for the past week,’ he said, ‘20 industries in the valley have been selling cylinders filled with gas.’ 

An additional 2,000 metric tons of gas is to be imported from India in view of the upcoming elections. The corporation said that a decision has been made on this and a demand has been made on Sunday. ‘We have requested an additional 2,000 metric tons of gas so that there may be more consumption during the elections and there will be no shortage,’ said Bhatta, CEO of the corporation. ‘This is more than the required quantity, but we have requested it so that there will be no shortage and there will be more consumption at that time.’