CPCs & LIOCs request on increase fuel prices, rejected

                               

A request by the Ministry of Energy to increase fuel prices has been rejected by the Finance Ministry, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation revealed.

The Finance Ministry has instead decided to seek a solution that will see the State-owned CPC reduce its losses through Government intervention.

CPC Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe told reporters that the CPC hopes that the authorities will provide some other form of relief if they do not permit a price hike.

The Ministry of Energy had recently written to the Finance Ministry on behalf of the country’s leading fuel suppliers, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC) PLC, requesting some concession for the import of fuel.

Earlier, it was reported that the CPC had incurred a loss of Rs. 70 billion as of 31 August 2021, and it was incurring a loss of Rs. 14.56 per litre of petrol and a loss of Rs. 31.46 per litre of diesel per day.

At the time, CPC Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe said that in order to mitigate this situation the institution has no choice but to increase fuel prices.

Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpilla had also expressed the same view to the media earlier, requesting that the CPC and LIOC be granted some concession for the import of fuel.

Lanka IOC (LIOC), the subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation in Sri Lanka on also urged the government to approve a retail fuel price hike due to the prevailing situation regarding global oil prices.

LIOC Managing Director Manoj Gupta said they were waiting for the Sri Lankan government’s nod to hike the petrol price by Rs 20/litre and diesel by Rs 30/litre