NOC to build Lumbini Regional Storage Depot in Rupandehi

An agreement has been signed with Kathmandu University to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for the construction of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC)'s Lumbini Regional Storage Facility in Omsatiya and Rohini rural municipalities of Rupandehi.

In a program organized today, Pradeep Yadav, Deputy Director of Corporation and Head of Storage Capacity Expansion Project and Bibek Baral, Head of Kathmandu University (Consultancy Department) signed the agreement for the purpose.

According to the agreement, KU will prepare the DPR within six months. NOC Deputy Director Yadav said that the construction of the depot will be started as soon as the DPR is prepared and the depot at Bhalbari will be shifted by November 2025.

Earlier, the NOC had signed an agreement with Pulchowk Engineering Campus last week to construct a DPR for the relocation of the aviation fuel depot located in the Tribhuvan International Airport complex in Kathmandu.

The current Lumbini regional office is located in about five and a half bigha of land connected to the Bhairahawa-Butwal main highway. There are tankers with storage capacity of 519 kiloliters of petrol, 3000 kiloliters of diesel and 140 kiloliters of kerosene.

According to the corporation, the current storage capacity is very low compared to the increasing consumption. Deputy Director Yadav informed that the current storage capacity can only meet the demand of two days of petrol and five days of diesel.

The corporation has fuel storage depots at Biratnagar, Dhanusha, Birgunj, Amlekhgunj, Kathmandu, Pokhara, Bhairahawa, Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi. Currently, the petroleum product storage capacity of the corporation is 60,384 kiloliters. For Nepal, which is dependent on imports for petroleum products, the corporation has been purchasing fuel from India's state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).