thehimalayantimes.com
November 23, 2015
The government will send a two-member team of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to China in a bid to finalise the technical aspects of the petroleum purchase agreement with the China government owned China National United Oil Corporation (PetroChina).
NOC’s Acting Deputy Managing Director Sushil Bhattarai and Acting Director Deepak Baral will leave for Beijing tomorrow to finalise crucial technical aspects of fuel pact.
Once the joint team of NOC and PetroChina finalises the details related to quality, quantity, pricing, taxation, loading capacity, loading method, and the route to bring gasoline to Nepal, a delegation headed by Joint Secretary and Spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies (MoCS) Shambhu Prasad Ghimire and comprising officials from the finance ministry, law ministry, foreign ministry and Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM) will leave for Beijing to seal the business-to-business (B2B) deal with PetroChina, as per Ghimire.
A delegation led by Ghimire could not leave for China today as the Nepali Embassy in Beijing corresponded with the foreign ministry to send a high-level delegation after the joint technical team of oil giants of both the countries finalises the technical issues. Reportedly, the Nepali Embassy in Beijing has been lobbying to waive duty of
petroleum exports to Nepal.
“In the initial talks when the memorandum of understanding was signed between NOC and PetroChina, the Chinese side had informed Nepali side that about 33 per cent tax could be levied by the Chinese central government and state government,” said Bishow Babu Pudasaini, director general of NBSM, who is also a board member of NOC.
NOC and PetroChina had signed a framework agreement to open petroleum trade with the northern neighbour on October 28. However, formal trade will begin only after both the oil giants ink a B2B deal.
China has already installed a petroleum pipeline to Lhasa and there is railway connectivity to Shigatse city that lies at a distance of 457 km from Nepali border of Tatopani and China has pledged to send all kinds of petroleum products that is being consumed in Nepal via this route.
Nepal has already started bringing petrol from China. However, it has been provided as grant by the Chinese government. China has been providing load to Nepali tankers from Kyirong, which lies at a distance of 26 km from Nepali border of Rasuwagadhi. Shigatse-Lhasa-Tatopani route is more feasible than Shigatse-Kyirong-Rasuwagadhi route because the road accessibility of Kyirong route gets affected in winter due to snowfall, as per NOC officials. While bringing fuel from Shigatse via Kyirong-Rasuwagadhi route, fuel tankers need to travel 100 km more than Lhasa route. Nepal will bring petroleum products through both the routes.
Till date, the country has been entirely dependent on India for import of petroleum products. But it has been planning to
import one-third of the current consumption volume from China for a longer term as an import diversification measure.
