IndianOil gets nod for Indo-Nepal pipeline
Mumbai   13-Jun-2009
The Indo-Nepal oil pipeline, which was proposed by state-owned IndianOil years ago, will finally see the light of the day. According to a source, IndianOil has been finally given a go-ahead by the Nepalese government to form a joint venture company with Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to implement and manage the pipeline. "Though IndianOil would like to have 50% stake in the venture, it seems that the Nepalese government has been insisting on a majority stake," the source said, adding, "IndianOil will have to prepare a detailed feasibility report for which it has asked NOC to send its basic inputs, such as throughput for the next five, 10 and 15 years." IndianOil had sent a three-member team comprising deputy general managers in the second week of May to Nepal to hold talks with NOC on the proposed project. The pipeline, which is expected to connect Raxaul in India to Amlekhgunj in Nepal, was proposed by IndianOil in 1996 to ensure smoother oil supplies to the Himalayan kingdom. "There are two major problems of transporting oil from India to Nepal first, there is a lot of congestion in the route, which leads to frequent delays in delivery and second, a lot of antisocial activities occur near the border region, making it prone to thefts and other related dangers," said the source. IndianOil feels the pipeline will also reduce transportation costs by almost 60%. The 35-40 km pipeline will require an investment of around Rs 40 crore.