PM DIRECTS AUTHORITIES TO RESTRICT LOAD-SHEDDING TO ONLY 10 HOURS IN WINTER Kathmandu, 25 Sept. Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has told government load-shedding in winter will peak to 21 hours a day in winter, Nagarik. Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai Monday told officials to limit it to 10 hours a day by importing power from India, operating multi-fuel plants and small power projects. He suggested reducing leakages and producing additional power. nnnn COOKING GAS TO BE IMPORTED FROM MALAYSIA ENDING 40-YEAR NOC MONOPOLY Kathmandu, 25 Sept.: The government has decided to smash Nepal Oil Corporation 's (NOC) four-decade-old fuel import monopoly . A private company Chandi Lumbini Gas Storage Company has been permitted to import liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from Malaysian petroleum giant Petronas from October-end, Sangam Prasai writes in The Kathmandu Post Chandi Lumbini will buy gas and oil from Petronas, mix and refine the fuels at IndianOil Petronas at Haldia and then sell LPG in Nepal. This will also mean that NOC’s sole supplier, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), will lose its special position in the Nepali market. Chandi Lumbini had been okayed to import LPG for three years last year, but had not been able to carry it out. “Now, after revising the agreement, we are all set to do commercial LPG business in Nepal from October,” said Rajat Krishna Shrestha, managing director of Chandi Lumbini. “We have succeeded after almost 12 years of effort.” The company said it would make bulk deals and its LPG would be used for commercial purposes only. It has invited Nepali bottling plants, auto filling plants and bulk consumers interested in doing LPG business. The company said that even NOC can buy its products. Nuta Raj Pokhrel, under-secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Supplies, said that the ministry had allowed private companies to import fuel from any Indian oil marketing company including the present supplier IOC. Similarly, the LPG bylaws of NOC have also been amended to allow private sector participation in gas trading. “The India-Nepal Secretary Level Inter-Governmental Committee meeting in December last year had also allowed Nepali companies to import fuel from any Indian oil marketing company,” Pokhrel added. Chandi Lumbini made a fresh bid to be allowed to import LPG after the government announced a dual cylinder system from Oct 17. Under the plan, LPG would be sold in colour-coded cylinders, red for household use and blue for commercial use. LPG in blue cylinders will be sold at the actual price while red cylinders will be sold at a subsidised rate. The proposed system will allow Chandi Lumbini to sell its products at the commercial rate. At present, NOC incurs a loss of Rs 363.60 on a cylinder, resulting in monthly losses of Rs 436 million. The government has issued a bottling license to Chandi Lumbini. It has received a permit to store 3,000 tonnes of LPG monthly. Shrestha said that they would set up an oil processing plant after three years if its LPG quota was revised by the Indian government. Meanwhile, the entry of the private sector in the LPG business is expected to check black marketing, hoarding and artificial shortages. The consumption of LPG has been increasing by around 20 percent annually. According to NOC, consumption has jumped eight-fold over the last 14 years. The use of LPG soared during 1995-1996 when it replaced kerosene as cooking fuel in urban and semi urban homes. Nepal and India signed a Petroleum Supply Agreement in 1974 appointing IOC as the sole supplier of fuel to Nepal. Prior to that, major oil companies based in India like Exxon and Chevron used to retail fuel directly in the Nepali market. The High-Level Petroleum Sector Reform Taskforce has also recommended that every possible option with regard to fuel imports be explored, including purchasing crude from oil producing nations and refining it in Indian refineries. nnnn