Kathmandu: Nepal saved fuel transport costs of Rs 3 billion in the past two years after the construction of a cross-border petroleum pipeline between Nepal and India.

Nepal’s first petroleum pipeline that connects Motihari of India to Amlekhgunj of Nepal has been operational since September 11, 2019. It can supply petroleum products at the rate of 294 kiloliters per hour.

According to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), the pipeline is being used to transport diesel from India. The corporation has been importing an average of 3,500 kl diesel daily, almost half of its capacity to transport 6.500 kl daily.

Pradip Kumar Yadav, chief of Amlekhgunj depot of NOC, said the public enterprise imported diesel totaling 1.61 billion liters by using the pipeline in the fiscal years 2019/20 and 2020/21. In almost two months of the current fiscal year, the NOC has imported a total of 124.41 million liters of diesel by using the infrastructure.

Yadav said it costs an average of Rs 45,000 to transport the fuel from the Barauni depot of India to Amlekhgunj of Nepal. According to him, the pipeline has helped cut the costs of fuel tankers apart from reducing technical losses.

The 69-kilometer pipeline, which is the first cross-border petroleum pipeline in South Asia, was built at a total cost of Rs 5.18 billion. NOC officials said they have been looking to import petrol and kerosene as well through the pipeline.