NEW DELHI: India will help lay pipeline to supply fuel to Nepal and jointly market fuel in the Himalayan nation, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has said.
India has been a traditional supplier of fuel to Nepal, which receives its entire demand of about 200,000 kilo litres of fuel every month from state-run Indian OilBSE -0.54 % Corp.
Indian Oil will help build pipeline to supply petrol, diesel and cooking gas to Nepal, Pradhan said. Nepal currently gets all its supplies via road and a political unrest close to the border or a road trouble can hold back supplies, leading to acute energy shortage in the country. A pipeline can help overcome this problem.
Pradhan said India is also considering extending the natural gas pipeline from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh to Nepal. State-run GAIL is building the proposed pipeline from Jagdishpur in Uttar Pradesh to Haldia in West Bengal, which crosses Gorakhpur.
Indian Oil and Nepal Oil Corp will also form a joint venture to market fuel in Nepal, said Pradhan, after Indian Oil and Nepal Oil signed a fuel supply agreement on Monday. Indian Oil has agreed to supply petrol, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel and cooking gas to Nepal for the next five years, beginning April 1.
"The new agreement has been made with the concept of “Umbrella Agreement” by keeping provisions of future MoU / Agreement subsidiary to this. Provision for collaboration in new fields like Engineering / Projects / Aviation / Retail / Petrochemicals/ Business Developments/LPG ventures has also been kept," a statement from Indian Oil Corp said.
Under the agreement, Indian Oil will supply BS-IV grade fuel to Nepal and use Patna-Motihari-Amlekganj Pipeline, when it's built, to supply fuel. This pipeline can take fuel from Barauni as well as Haldia Refinery, the statement said. Indian Oil has been supplying fuel to Nepal since 1974.
The new agreement was signed in the presence of Dharmendra Pradhan and Deepak Bohara, Minister for Supplies in the government of Nepal. Pradhan assured India’s continued support to Nepal in meeting its complete hydrocarbon requirement.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com