Nepal’s import of petroleum fuels declined by a notable amount in FY 2022/23

Kathmandu: Nepal’s import of petroleum products fell by a notable amount in the fiscal year 2022/23.

According to the records with Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC), the consumption of petroleum products except aviation fuel decreased in the last fiscal year compared to 2021/22. The import of diesel declined 19.76 percent in the review period.

Similarly, the consumption of petrol decreased 8.26 percent and that of the cooking gas decreased 3.98 percent. During this period, the consumption of aviation fuel increased by 10.40 percent, the NOC informed.

In the last fiscal year Nepal consumed 675,000 kiloliters of petrol and 1.383 million kiloliters of diesel. In the previous year, 736,000 kl and 1.723 kl of these two items were consumed, respectively. In this regard, petrol consumption was down by eight percent, while diesel consumption fell 19 percent during the review period.

Similarly, the import of cooking gas stood at 514,000 tons, a decline of four percent in 2022/23. In the previous year, Nepal consumed 536,000 tons of kitchen fuel.

Manoj Kumar Thakur, spokesperson of the NOC, said the consumption of petroleum fuels declined due to an increased use of electric vehicles, electric stoves and heaters as consumers have started to switch to these electric appliances from the traditional devices.

According to him, the imports declined also due to the differences in fuel prices in Nepal and India. “As the prices of petroleum fuels last year were low in the Indian market compared to Nepal, many transporters visited the bordering market of India to purchase the fuels, bringing down the import figure in Nepal,” Thakur said.