Kathmandu, Aug. 7: Nepal remains highly vulnerable to recurring cooking gas shortages because it has no strategic LPG storage facility, allowing even minor disruptions to supplies from India to quickly hit the domestic market. While the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) stores aviation fuel, petrol, diesel and kerosene, it has no storage infrastructure for liquefied petroleum gas. Nepal has 59 LPG bottling plants with a combined storage capacity of 11,000 metric tonnes, according to the Nepal LPG Gas Industries Association. Monthly consumption, usually between 45,000 and 48,000 metric tonnes, is expected to reach 55,000 metric tonnes this month. The NOC bought land in Sarlahi nearly a decade ago for an LPG storage project, but construction has yet to begin.