Natural Gas in Kathmandu

Pockets of Dailekh, a district 700 km west of Kathmandu, have reserves of natural gas, a study conducted by Chinese researchers has found.An initial report of the Nepal-China cooperation study was submitted to Beijing few days ago, and was made available to Nepal this week. Nepal’s officials say the findings are ‘encouraging’.
According to the report, the gas found in Dailekh is different from the methane found under areas of Kathmandu. The gas found in Dailekh can directly be bottled and sold to consumers, the report says.
Although lot has been said about the prospect of petroleum exploration in Nepal, this is the first time natural gas has been found in the country.The Chinese researchers, who were in Nepal in November last year, collected samples of rocks from different areas of Nepal and took them to their lab in China, where they analysed them. They then submitted the report to the Chinese government after which it was forwarded to Nepal’s Ministry of Industries.