Nepal has sent four fuel tankers to China's Tibetan city Jilong on Saturday noon to receive the first lot of fuel grant to ease the fuel crisis in the country following India's blockade.
To receive China's fuel donation, 4 fuel tankers of Nepal Oil Corporation(NOC) crossed the Nepal-China border point Rasuwagadhi at 13:00 p.m. local time. Representatives of Chinese company Petro China and NOC officials arrived in the border point and accompanied the fuel tankers to Jilong.
NOC spokesperson Deepak Baral told Xinhua on the spot "Though we planned to send 12 empty tankers today, only four have been sent owing to heavy snowfall in the Chinese side which has obstructed the highway, creating difficulty for fuel transportation from Shigatse to Jilong".
The four NOC tankers have a capacity of 12,000 liter each. However, they will only collect 36,000 liters petrol in total, 9000 in each due to weak and fragile road condition.
"Among China's grant assistance of 1,000 tons of petrol, Nepal will collect remaining fuel within a week," Baral said.
Jilong is some 25 km away from the border Rasuwagadhi.
Nepal has formally asked China to supply petroleum products after it suffered a huge crisis as India blocked all the supplies. Following the request, China signed a framework agreement with Nepal on Wednesday for supply of petroleum products.
Naral further said that the Nepal government plans to purchase one third of total demand of petroleum products from China in coming days. However, the government has not finalized the technical modalities and cost negotiations yet.
The filled fuel tanks are expected to return to Kathmandu valley by Sunday.
