Lanka IOC rolls back petrol 92 price reduction of Rs. 5

Lanka IOC has decided to roll back the reduction of Rs. 5/litre on the price of petrol (LP92) which was made on 6 April.

With this revision LP92 price is now Rs. 142/litre at LIOC sheds against Rs. 137/litre at CPC sheds. However, LIOC’s diesel price is on par with CPC. 

It linked the rollback to external factors.

Via a statement a LIOC spokesperson said: “The current pandemic situation has brought in various economic challenges and the Government has been taking every possible step to revive the economy. Lanka IOC always extends sincere support and pledge in rebuilding the economy and service to the nation by maintaining uninterrupted fuel supplies. In pursuit of same, LIOC had reduced petrol 92 price by Rs. 5/litre from 6 April, even though the procurement cost was high. This was done to match our prices on par with CPC prices. LAD (diesel) price are being maintained on par with CPC prices for more than a year since 14 May 2019.”

Considering the sharp reduction in international oil prices during March to April, the Customs duty including surcharge applicable on import of petroleum product was increased on 14 March and followed by further revision on 23 April. 

However, international prices have considerably increased since then by more than 100%. Petrol price on date is at $ 31.5/barrel in the international market against $ 14.6 /barrel on 22 April. It is expected that with the revival of global economy after lifting of curfew and lockdowns, the prices will be on contagion trend.

He further shared: “While we are absorbing huge under recoveries on both petrol and diesel as per current international prices, but to at least mitigate the under-recovery to a limited extent, we are compelled to withdraw the price reduction of Rs. 5/litre on LP92 petrol. LIOC had suffered a loss of Rs. 346 million during Jan-March quarter of fiscal year 2019-’20. We are very optimistic that current duty structure will be reviewed at the earliest in view of increase in international prices.”

The LIOC spokesperson also said the company highly appreciated the effort of the Government for various measures taken for the safety and wellbeing of Sri Lankan people in the challenging time of COVID-19 pandemic situation.

“The collective efforts of all the health workers, tri-forces and police under the able guidance and charismatic leadership of President of Sri Lanka has helped to contain the spread of outbreak.”

“We at LIOC stand committed to the best value to customers and energising our efforts to help revival,” the spokesman added.