Cooking Gas Shortage Likely to Worsen Amid Middle East Tensions

Nepal has been facing a shortage of liquefied petroleum (LP) gas for about a month. Amidst this, recent developments in the Middle East are expected to further exacerbate the crisis.

Consumers are being forced to carry empty cylinders to depots, while several locations have put up notices reading 'no gas'. Nepal Oil Corporation spokesperson Manoj Kumar Thakur informed that the corporation's storage capacity for cooking gas is currently at zero.

Although the Nepal LP Gas Industry Association claims that private sector bottling plants have a storage capacity of 7,000 metric tonnes transported through bullet tankers, the supply of cooking gas in Nepal has not been adequate recently. However, industrialists say that with demand remaining high, this storage will not sustain for long.

"The corporation itself has zero storage of LP gas; imported gas is sent directly to the market through the industrialists," Thakur said. "Although regular supply from India is ongoing currently, the tension in the international market could impact the situation in the coming days."

According to immediate past president of the Nepal LP Gas Industry Association, Shiva Prasad Ghimire, the demand for gas has not decreased even after the winter season. He mentioned that after rumors of a shortage spread in the market, some consumers have started stocking more gas than necessary.

He warned that if tensions escalate further in the Middle East, leading to disruptions in international shipping and crude oil production, it will directly impact both the price and supply of LP gas.