KATHMANDU, May 6 (Xinhua) -- As crude oil prices rise in the international market, continually fueling import prices, monthly loss of Nepal in oil business has scaled up to over 580 million Nepali rupees (8.2 million U.S. dollars), according to officials.

    Existing domestic prices of fuel, which were reviewed in March 2006, were set when the international price was about 50 dollars per barrel of crude oil, Sushil Bhattarai, spokesperson of Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) said here Saturday.

    "But, the price has shot up to well over 70 dollars per barrel at present due mainly to geo-political reasons," he said, adding that as the domestic rates were not adjusted in April as well as in May, the prices gap has further widened.

    According to NOC officials, the corporation has interest payable sum worth 4.44 billion rupees (63.4 million dollars) to pay to lenders, and 5.77 billion rupees (82.4 million dollars) to pay to Indian Oil Corporation, including imports made for April and May.

    Although the corporation was required to clear April's import bill worth 2.27 billion rupees (32.4 million dollars) by April 15,it has not paid even a single tranche so far. Enditem