Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) dealers and Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) Sunday reached an understanding to resume the supply of gas to the market in the Nepali capital Kathmandu Valley immediately.

According to NOC spokesperson Ichha Bikram Thapa, the agreement has been reached between the two sides to resume the supply on condition that the demands put forward by the LPG dealers would be addressed within the next 10 days.

"The demands are associated with policy-making about which we don't have authority to decide. The government will take final decision regarding this," he said.

Considering the acute shortage of gas, gas dealers have agreed to allow gas tankers that have been stranded in Indian borders to enter Nepal and start distribution.

Earlier Sunday, the dealers made an appeal to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to intervene into the matter.

Dealers have been demanding increase in the amount of gas import from current 8,000 tons to 10,000 tons per day while the government is hesitating to increase the import as this would result in a loss to the NOC. Currently NOC bears a loss of around 200 Nepali rupees (2.85 US dollars) per LPG cylinder.

The market has gone dry of cooking gas, the popular household fuel in Kathmandu, as NOC and agitating cooking gas companies refused to budge from their stance over demands lodged by the companies.

According to the association, the companies' stock went dry earlier this week, as they have not imported the product since 15 days ago, as part of the strike they launched to fulfill their demands.