Surendra Poudel, Managing Director of the state-owned Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), said the company has begun work to increase the country’s storage capacity from 70 million litres (440,290 bbl) to 80.5 million litres.
Nepal currently stores petrol, diesel and jet fuel. NOC said it is planning to increase the country’s storage capacity for petroleum products by at least 15% by the end of the fiscal year.
The tender process to construct 10 million litres of new diesel storage facilities has already begun. NOC has also begun development work on a 350,000 litre petrol storage facility in Chitwan, and a 200,000 litre jet fuel storage facility in Pokhara.
The company is also looking to develop an LPG storage facility in Dhanusa, which will be the first of its kind in Nepal. NOC and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) are looking to jointly construct tanks to store 60 million litres of fuel in Jhapa and another 100 million litre tank in Chitwan.
NOC imports supplies from India and China, as Nepal produces no oil of its own, so storage is vital. The storage expansion work has been planned since 2016, after an acute shortage of fuel after a supply obstruction resulted in the Nepalese government pledging to expand storage to meet the country’s demand for three months.
For more information visit www.iocl.com
