Kathmandu, Oct 2: Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) expects to suffer a net loss of around Rs 7.46 billion in the first three months of the current fiscal year as rising international fuel prices and the failure to fully implement the automatic pricing mechanism squeeze its finances.
The state-owned fuel supplier has continued absorbing higher import costs instead of passing the entire burden on to consumers. A sharp increase in imports of cooking LPG, which NOC sells at a substantial loss per cylinder, has further pushed up its losses.
NOC calculates its projected profit or loss every 15 days based on revised purchase prices received from Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
The corporation began fiscal year 2026/27 on a positive note, recording a profit of Rs 710 million during the first 15 days of the fiscal year. Its finances, however, deteriorated rapidly afterward.
During the second half of the first month, NOC incurred a loss of Rs 1.49 billion.
The corporation lost another Rs 313.5 million during the first half of the second month. The loss then climbed to Rs 1.2437 billion in the following 15-day period.
The financial pressure intensified further in the third month. NOC recorded a loss of Rs 1.9169 billion between the first and 15th day of the month.
For the final 16 days of the three-month period, the corporation expects its loss to surge to Rs 3.2038 billion.
Taken together, NOC is projected to incur losses of Rs 8.1679 billion from mid-July through the end of the third month.
After adjusting for the Rs 710 million profit recorded during the first 15 days of the fiscal year, its net loss for the three-month period is expected to reach approximately Rs 7.4579 billion.
NOC attributes the worsening financial position largely to higher international prices for crude oil and refined petroleum products, coupled with domestic pricing that has not been adjusted fully in line with import costs.
The growing volume of LPG imports has added to the pressure because the corporation continues to sell cooking gas below its import and supply cost in an effort to provide relief to consumers.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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