Diplomatist Magazine Diplomatist October 2019 | Page 46

INDIA & THE WORLD
INDIA-NEPAL
Fuelling Their Partnership with 1st
Cross Border Oil Pipeline
BY DR. RAJEEV KUMAR & DR. MUKESH KUMAR SRIVASTAVA*
T
he Motihari-Amlekhgunj oil pipeline, the fi rst cross-
border petroleum products pipeline in South Asia, was
inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and his Nepalese counterpart K.P. Sharma Oli on September
10, 2019. The 69 km India-Nepal pipeline will transport fuel
from Barauni in Bihar to Amlekhgunj in Nepal. Construction
of the pipeline was undertaken by Indian Oil Corporation
Limited (IOCL), India’s largest refi ner, with an investment of
over ₹324 crore, in collaboration with Nepal Oil Corporation
Limited (NOCL). Constructed in a record half-time, i.e. 15
months ahead of the scheduled 30 months, the pipeline will
carry two million metric tonnes of clean petroleum products
at an aff ordable price to Nepal every year. The pipeline will
sharply reduce the cost of transporting fuel to landlocked
Nepal from India and the NOCL will be saving around ₹200
crore annually, thereby enabling Nepal to invest the saved
money in expanding similar pipelines across its territory. It
further reiterates the fact that geographical proximity favours
India-Nepal relations naturally and that India continues to
be the ‘naturally-selected’ development partner of Nepal.
Celebrating the occasion, PM Modi said, “This is a matter
of satisfaction that South Asia’s fi rst cross-border petroleum
pipeline has been completed in record time. This India-Nepal
energy cooperation project is a symbol of our close bilateral
relations. It will help to enhance the energy security of the
region and substantially cut down on transit costs”.
Strategic and Economic Pursuits: Reclaiming the Lost
Ground
As relations with India soured in the wake of the four
months-long blockade on key India-Nepal border crossings in
2015, China had come to Nepal’s rescue with a deal to supply
a third of the country’s required petroleum. Kathmandu, for
the time being, saw in it the importance of diversifying its
trade away from India. Moreover, India has long been wary of
China’s eff orts to establish trans-Asian supply routes through
its “one belt, one road” initiative – which Oli once endorsed
enthusiastically – and that is why India needed to watch
China-Nepal ties very closely and recalibrate its position. The
completion of the pipeline project in record time can be seen
as the seriousness and recalibration of the present dispensation
in putting the strained relationship between the two nations on
46 • Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 7 • Issue 10 • October 2019,
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