Money
LPG prices up Rs25 a cylinder
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has raised the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by Rs25 per cylinder.Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has raised the prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) by Rs25 per cylinder.
With the revision, a cooking gas cylinder now costs Rs1,330 in the western region, while it is available at Rs1,350 in rest of Nepal, according to NOC.
Two weeks ago, NOC had reduced LPG price in the western region by Rs20 per cylinder to Rs1,305 by passing on savings on transportation costs to consumers.
NOC said the price revision is in line with latest price list sent by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). NOC Spokesperson Bhanubhakta Khanal said IOC has raised the price by Rs102 per cylinder in the revised price list.
IOC revises price of cooking gas supplied to NOC every month, while that of other petroleum products is revised on a fortnightly basis. Khanal said IOC has also raised the price of petrol by 9 paisa per litre, and diesel by 1 paisa per litre. According to NOC, it faces a loss of Rs162.91 per LPG cylinder even after the price hike.
As per the latest price list forwarded by IOC, NOC’s monthly projected loss has increased to Rs478.6 million from Rs379.2 million.
The state-owned enterprise has been facing losses for the past few months due to its failure to raise fuel prices in line with international market rates.
Despite the implementation of the auto-pricing mechanism, NOC has not been able to hike petroleum prices due to widespread protests.
The oil monopoly has been trying to raise fuel price for quite some time now, stating the difference in prices in India and Nepal is fuelling smuggling. Khanal said diesel is cheaper by Rs24.33 per litre in Nepal than in India, while petrol costs Rs17.74 per litre less here.
According to Khanal, NOC has been compensating the losses utilising the price stabilising fund that is worth Rs4 billion.