Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has initiated steps to construct the Lumbini Regional Storage Facility in Rupandehi. The state-owned oil monopoly signed an agreement to this end with Kathmandu University (KU) to prepare a detailed project report (DPR).

Pradeep Yadav, deputy director of NOC and head of the Storage Capacity Expansion Project, and Bibek Baral, head of KU’s Consultancy Department, signed the agreement amid a program on Wednesday. KU committed to completing the DPR within six months.

NOC plans to start construction immediately after the DPR's completion and relocate the existing depot at Bhalbari by November 2025. Last week, NOC also partnered with Pulchowk Engineering Campus to prepare a DPR for relocating the aviation fuel depot from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.

The current Lumbini regional office of NOC, located on about 5.5 bigha of land along the Bhairahawa-Butwal highway, has storage facility for 519 kiloliters of petrol, 3,000 kiloliters of diesel, and 140 kiloliters of kerosene. However, Deputy Director Yadav noted that the storage capacity is insufficient to meet the growing demand, covering only two days of petrol and five days of diesel.

With storage depots in multiple locations, including Kathmandu, Biratnagar, and Nepalgunj, NOC currently has a total storage capacity of 60,384 kiloliters. Nepal depends on imported petroleum products, with NOC sourcing fuel from India's Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).