Petroleum dealers started distributing fuel on Wednesday, but short supply continued to hit consumers, as they had to queue up at refilling stations in Nepali capital Kathmandu on Thursday.

And given that demand for major petroleum products is at its height at present mainly due to the lack of supply for over a week, dealers said it will take a few days for the supply situation to normalize.

"We expect the supply situation to become normal by Sunday if Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) maintains supply at today's rate," Linendra Prasad Pradhan, a member of Nepal Petroleum Dealers Association (NPDA) told reporters here Thursday.

The NOC operated its Thankot depot in Kathmandu at full capacity Thursday. It pumped out 258,000 liters of petrol, 253,000 liters of diesel and 263,000 liters of kerosene to dealers during Wednesday, NOC spokesperson, Mukunda Prasad Dhungel said.

The volume of petrol distributed on the day was twice the normal daily consumption amount, while volume of diesel was close to and kerosene less than the normal daily consumption volume.

The NOC official further said that the depot focused on issuing as much petrol as it could because the shortage was mostly visible in case of petrol.

Despite the increased supply by the corporation, the fuel issued on the day was distributed only among 60 dealers. The rest have been queued for Thursday's distribution.

This meant that 45 percent of petrol pumps were dry, and their regular consumers have shifted to refilling stations supplying fuel.

"That is why a queue of consumers was visible in almost all of the dealers supplying fuel," Pradhan said.

Nepali petroleum dealers ended their indefinite nationwide strikes on Tuesday after the government assured them of fulfilling their major demands.

NPDA called nationwide strike against damages caused to petrol pumps by the agitating consumers after the Nepal Oil Corporation, the only government own supplier of petroleum products in the country, hiked the petroleum products prices from last Friday.

Source: Xinhua