Kathmandu, Jan 18: The Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) Limited, a monopoly state-owned trading enterprise of the country that imports and distributes petroleum products, has decided to halt the import of petroleum products from Raxaul depot. NOC's decision follows that Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Limited had been asking the NOC for the past two years not to import petroleum products from the depot citing security reasons, it has been said.

The IOC said that the depot had been facing problems.

With this, arrangements have been made for petroleum dealers in Bara and Parsa districts, who had been importing fuels from the depot till now, to purchase petroleum products from NOC province 2 office, said NOC's spokesperson Binit Mani Upadhyay. Following this, a team from the NOC's central office in Kathmandu, the Bara, Prasa Petroleum Dealers Association and the local administration sad down to remove inconveniences stemmed from the NOC's decision.

As a result, there may not be a smooth supply of petroleum products and the supply costs may increase at a time when there is not a maximum use of Motihari-Amlekhganj petroleum pipeline and structural construction of Motihari depot by the NOC is yet to be completed, concluded the meeting.

Meanwhile, following the NOC's decision, authorised dealers in Bara and Parsa have agreed to purchase petroleum products from the NOC province 2 office.