Consumption of petroleum products increases by 75 per cent

KATHMANDU, Sept 30: With the start of Dashain festival, consumption of petroleum products has increased sharply.

The consumption of diesel and petrol has increased by 75 per cent with the start of Dashain festival as compared to previous months, according to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).

Earlier, 2.2 million liters of petrol used to be consumed in a day. The consumption of petrol has reached 3.5 million liters daily in recent days.

NOC Spokesperson Binitmani Upadhyay said 5.5 million liters of diesel is being consumed daily against 3.5 million daily.

As people have started leaving Kathmandu Valley to celebrate Dashain, a long queue of vehicles is seen at some petrol pumps for refueling. Number of people leaving Kathmandu Valley for Dashain has increased with the start of Dashain vacation.

Spokesperson Upadhyay shared that the NOC depot would remain open even during public holidays during Dashain in order to make smooth sale and distribution of petroleum products across the country during the festival.

NOC fuel depots to remain open during Dashain holiday

Meanwhile, the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has said all its fuel depots will remain open during the Dashain holiday.

The state-owned fuel utility stated through a notice on Friday that it will be operating its 13 fuel depots as well for a smooth supply of petroleum products during Dashain.

NOC Director Birendra Goit said that the Corporation has made a decision to keep open the petrol stations for the easy supply of petroleum products as the flow of public transport increases during the Dashain holiday.

According to him, the NOC’s depot would be open on October 2, 5 and 7 in Biratnagar of Province 1 and in Amlekhgunj of Madhesh province while the depot would be operated on October 1, 2, 4 and 7 at Thankot of Bagmati province and in Pokhara of Gandaki province.

Similarly, the NOC depots at Bhairahawa of Lumbini would be open on October 1,2,4,7 and 8, the depot at Surkhet of Karnali province would be open on October 2 and 7 while the depots at Dhangadhi of Sudurpaschim would be open on October 2, 3 and 7.

Likewise, the depot at the NOC branch office Chariali would be open on October 2 and 7 while the depots in Nepalgunj, Dhanusha, Birgunj, Dang and Dipayal would also be open until October 7.

The petrol pumps would be open round the clock to prevent shortage of petroleum products in the market, NOC stated.