Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has said that it has to pay Rs 21 billion to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for the purchase of petroleum products.

The amount to be paid to the IOC has gone up for the NOC's failure to pay on time due to a heavy loss in the sale of petroleum products for a long time.

NOC Spokesperson Binitmani Upadhyay said the supply of petroleum products by clearing the dues to the IOC is a challenge for NOC.

The government had doled out Rs 7 billion in loan to the NOC some weeks ago as the NOC had no money to purchase petroleum products after its reserve funds remained empty.

Likewise, NOC had taken Rs 3 billion in loan from Rastriya Banijya Bank (RBB) to ensure accessible supply of petroleum products.

Meanwhile, the NOC has hiked the prices of diesel and kerosene since last midnight. With the new price list, the price of one liter of diesel and kerosene has been hiked to Rs 178 from Rs 172 in the past.

However, the price of other petroleum products including cooking gas, petrol and aviation fuel is unchanged.

The NOC claimed that it will witness Rs 610 million in losses in a month even after the latest price adjustment on petroleum goods.

The price of petroleum products has again started to go up in the international market for the past two weeks though it was in the decreasing trend in the previous weeks.