据路透社9月10日加德满都报道,周二,印度和尼泊尔正式开通了南亚第一条跨境石油管道,该项目被视为新德里努力扩大其在喜马拉雅地区国家影响力的一部分。
印度总理莫迪和尼泊尔总理奥利在各自首都通过视频连线参加了就职典礼。
印度为这个32.4亿卢比(4500万美元)的管道项目提供了资金,该项目的年生产能力为200万吨,将使尼泊尔能够以更低的成本从印度进口燃料。印度是尼泊尔唯一的石油供应国,目前石油通过油轮经由陆路运往尼泊尔。
印度官员表示,这条69公里(43英里)长的管道是由印度国有石油公司(IOC)与尼泊尔石油公司合作修建的,比原计划提前15个月完工。
这条管道是“贸易和过境领域互联互通的最好例证……在尼泊尔和印度之间。” 奥利在内阁部长的陪同下发表电视讲话。
奥利表示,从周二开始,尼泊尔政府已将汽油价格每升下调约2美分,以惠及消费者,因为这条管道将降低石油运输成本。
尼泊尔消耗约266万吨石油和48万吨燃气,目前由卡车从6个印度仓库运往尼泊尔的不同地点。
尼泊尔石油公司发言人Birendra Goit说,这条管道每年将为尼泊尔节省大约870万美元的燃料运输成本。
薛珂 摘译自 路透社
原文如下:
India and Nepal open South Asia’s first cross-border oil pipeline
India and Nepal officially opened South Asia's first cross-border oil pipeline on Tuesday, a project seen as part of New Delhi's efforts to increase its influence in the Himalayan nation where China is also making deep inroads.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepal counterpart K.P. Sharma Oli joined the inauguration ceremony by video link from their respective capitals.
India funded the 3.24 billion rupee ($45 million) pipeline project, which has an annual capacity of 2 million metric tonnes and will enable Nepal to import fuel from India at a lower cost. India is Nepal's sole supplier of oil which is currently carried on tankers via road to the land-locked country.
The 69-km (43 miles) pipeline, built by state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) in cooperation with Nepal Oil Corporation, was completed 15 months ahead of schedule, officials said.
The pipeline is the "best example of connectivity in the field of trade and transit ... between Nepal and India," Oli, flanked by his cabinet ministers, said in a televised video address.
Oli said Nepal's government had cut the cost of petrol by about two US cents a litre from Tuesday to benefit consumers as the pipeline would cut oil transport costs.
Nepal consumes about 2.66 million tonnes of oil and about 480,000 tonnes of cooking gas, currently carried in trucks from half a dozen Indian depots to different points in Nepal.
The pipeline will save Nepal about $8.7 million a year in transport costs for fuel, Birendra Goit, a spokesman for Nepal Oil Corporation, said.