KATHMANDU – Nepal has imported 100 million liters of diesel in one month via the India-Nepal cross border petroleum pipeline that came into operation in 2019.
The imports of diesel via the Motihari-Amlekhgunj Pipeline (MAPL) has saved over a billion rupees on transportation and other related expenditures.
In its tweets, Indian Embassy in Kathmandu said that Indian Oil Corporation crossed a milestone of supplying 100 million liters of diesel, in a single month, for the first time, via the Motihari-Amlekhgunj petroleum products pipeline.
“MAPL saved more than NPR 1 billion on transportation and other related expenditure,”read the tweet. “ MAPL played an important role in meeting the requirement of diesel during the peak COVID-19 lockdown period.”
This is the first cross border pipeline in South Asia that runs from Motihari of India to Amlekhgunj of Nepal.
The 69-km pipeline project was jointly inaugurated by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in September 2019.
Built with Indian support, the project was completed in 15 months at a cost of nearly 324 crores Indian rupees (nearly Rs 5.18 billion).
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) also says that the pipeline has ‘significantly’ lowered transportation and other related costs after the pipeline project came into operation.
According to a financial report of the NOC, it had spent Rs 1.47 billion between Bhadra 2076 and Asadh 2077. This 10-month cost of Rs 1.47 billion means its transportation expenditure stood at Rs 147 million per month.
NOc was transporting diesel from India through tankers until the pipeline project came into operation last year.
NOC’s Managing Director Surendra Poudel said that the state utility has been saving a ‘huge amount’ after diesel started getting supplied via the cross border pipeline.
The NOC was also facing problems including leakage, theft and delay in supplies of petroleum products while importing via tankers.
