August 4: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has clarified that the prices of petroleum products will not be adjusted even after a slight decline in the purchase price because of the due it owes to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).    
Issuing a press statement on Wednesday, the NOC shared that even though it has made some profit in petrol, kerosene and aviation fuel, the price of petroleum products would not be adjusted as it has to pay loan taken from the Government of Nepal and dues to the IOC.

The state-owned oil monopoly made such remarks despite adopting the auto-pricing mechanism, under which it should have adjusted the prices as per the fluctuation in prices in the international market.    
As per the new purchase price received from IOC on Monday, NOC makes a profit of Rs 2.75 per litre of petrol, Rs 9.37 loss per litre of diesel and Rs 499.57 loss per cylinder of cooking gas (LPG), said NOC's Joint-Spokesperson Puskar Karki.    
The state-owned national news agency RSS reported that the NOC is making profit through the sale of kerosene and aviation fuel. However, the NOC projects that it will incur a loss of Rs 1.27 billion per month from the sale of petroleum products in the current price, RSS added.    
The state-owned NOC had earlier taken a loan of seven billion rupees from the government and three billion rupees from Rastriya Banijya Bank to pay to the IOC, to which it still owes Rs 23 billion.