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The Nepal LP Gas Industry Association (NLPGIA) has urged consumers not to stockpile more cylinders than necessary after a shortage of the cooking essential surfaced in the domestic market.

Although gas imports and supplies remain regular, the NLPGIA said there is a temporary shortage as consumers have been bringing in spare cylinders to fill them at once. NLPGIA President Diwan Chand said the supply of cooking gas from India has not declined.

Chand said around 100 bullets of gas are being imported daily, as in the past. “The current supply is similar to that on normal days,” said Chand.

LP gas entrepreneurs claimed that the shortage has emerged in recent days after consumers started stockpiling gas. Bimal Kalakheti, a member of the NLPGIA, said that although they had advised consumers to ensure that they receive fully filled cylinders soon, the effects of the delay are now being felt.

There are 59 LP gas industries operating in Nepal, with around 15 million cylinders currently in circulation in the domestic market. Of the total, five million cylinders are with gas depots.

Citing the possibility of a shortage in the aftermath of the US-Iran war, the government began distributing half-filled cylinders from March 11. LPG bottlers, however, had been pressing the NOC to resume gas distribution under the original system, arguing that the government’s half-filled-cylinder policy had created major hardships for the industry by doubling operational, transportation and processing costs while leaving gas stocks idle in recent days.

Bowing to pressure from gas entrepreneurs, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) on July 15 permitted bottling plants to sell fully filled LPG cylinders.