Bottlers of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) – popularly known as cooking gas – today called off their protest after they reached an agreement with Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC).
They agreed to form a committee to study actual market demand and determine whether a hike in the LPG quota is required.
The bottlers had been protesting – since the last two weeks – against the oil monopoly demanding hike in the LPG quota. They have also threstened to stop getting purchase delivery orders from yesterday.
According to the agreement, the proposed six-member study team will be led by under-secretary at the Ministry of Commerce and Supply Deepak Pandey and three representatives from NOC, apart from two representatives from the association, said president of Nepal LP Gas Industry Association Shiva Prasad Ghimire.
The study team will get the real picture of market demand, number of users and available gas cylinders in the market, NOC spokesperson Mukunda Ghimire said, adding that they will also study total capacity of the refilling plants and their security compliance. “The team will submit its report by mid-November.”
After the agreement, there will be smooth supply of cooking gas.
The bottlers have been demanding to hike cooking gas quota to 30,000 tonnes from current 22,377 tonnes. But the NOC claimed that the bottlers have not been able to utilise the current quota too. “The bottlers have been selling only 19,000 tonnes a month on an average,” NOC managing director Chandika Prasad Bhatta said.

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