KATHMANDU, Jan 8: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has imported 100 million liters (100,000 kiloliters) diesel in a single month. After the operation of Motihari-Amlekhgunj oil pipeline, the corporation imported 100 million liters of diesel from Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in December alone.

The corporation had started importing diesel from September last year after the construction of Motihari-Amalekhgunj Petroleum Pipeline was completed. The corporation, which is importing diesel from IOC at low capacity, is currently importing 240,000 liters (240 kiloliters) of diesel per hour, said Bharat Regmi, chief of the Motihari-Amalekhgunj Petroleum Pipeline Project.

“We have managed to bring in 100 million liters of diesel in December alone,” said Regmi. “The pipeline has come into operation at a high capacity.” Prior to this, an average of 200 kiloliters of diesel per hour was imported but now the capacity has been increased to 240 kiloliters.

Since the corporation started importing diesel from the pipeline from September last year, it has imported 778 million liters of diesel till December. The corporation was importing 70-75,000 kiloliters diesel monthly. Diesel brought from the pipeline is stored at Bara Amalekhgunj Depot and is later supplied to Kathmandu, Bhairahawa, Biratnagar, Janakpur and other places.

The corporation has saved around Rs 1.5 billion a year since it started importing petroleum products through the pipeline.

The NOC has saved Rs 1.76 billion in a year after the pipeline cut the transportation cost. According to the annual financial report of the corporation for the last fiscal year 2019/20, Rs 1.47 billion has been saved in transportation in 10 months.

Pollution has also been reduced since diesel was imported through the pipeline. The corporation has stated that the leakage during transportation has been stopped. The pipeline has the capacity to import 2 million kiloliters of petroleum products annually.

The corporation plans to build a fuel storage tank at Amalekhgunj to operate the pipeline at full capacity. It has planned to build two more tanks of 4.2 million liters capacity each for the purpose.

The corporation is preparing to extend the petroleum pipeline brought to Amalekhgunj up to Chitwan. According to NOC Managing Director Surendra Kumar Paudel, an agreement has been reached with the IOC to extend the pipeline up to Chitwan for transportation of petroleum products.

The petroleum pipeline from Amalekhgunj to Chitwan will be 62 kilometers long. The route for pipeline expansion has been finalized. It is estimated that it will cost Rs 5.67 billion to expand the petroleum pipeline up to Chitwan and Rs 4.19 billion for the construction of petroleum storage sites.

As a large quantity of petroleum products is consumed in Kathmandu, Pokhara, Bhairahawa and other cities, a petroleum pipeline in Chitwan has been proposed to reduce the transportation cost. After bringing the pipeline from Amalekhgunj to Chitwan through Churiyamai forest, it will be easier to sell, distribute and manage petroleum products in the country in the long run. The corporation has already purchased land to build a storage site in Chitwan.