The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has reduced the prices of furnace oil and naphtha, with the revised rates taking effect from midnight.
CPC Managing Director Mayura Neththikumara said a litre of furnace oil falls by Rs. 38, from Rs. 248 to Rs. 210. A litre of naphtha falls by Rs. 35, from Rs. 210 to Rs. 175.
Ada Derana reported the reduction as effective “from midnight today (04)”, while NewsFirst reported the new prices as applying from tomorrow. Both descriptions point to the same moment — the midnight separating Friday and Saturday.
The electricity link
The more consequential detail came from the ministry rather than the corporation. Minister of Power and Energy Anura Karunathilaka told NewsFirst that steps would be taken to pass the benefit of the reductions on to the public, and that the relief would be reflected in the upcoming electricity tariff revision.
That matters because furnace oil is a thermal generation input rather than a pump fuel. Neither product is sold at retail filling stations, so households will not see the cut directly at the pump — the minister’s undertaking is the route by which it is meant to reach them.
The commitment is also the first government response to a question our earlier coverage left open. On 1 September, MP D.V. Chanaka warned that weak rainfall could force power tariffs upward, and at that point no outlet had reported a government response and the Public Utilities Commission had not signalled a further revision. Karunathilaka’s statement now points the other way, though he did not give a date for the revision or say how large the pass-through would be.
The regulator held tariffs unchanged for the third quarter, citing a 0.3 percent rise in supply costs and a Rs. 26.75 billion surplus carried forward from the first quarter.
Not reported
Neither outlet reported any change to petrol, diesel, Super Diesel or kerosene prices, which were last revised when the CPC cut Petrol 92 and Petrol 95 on 30 August and left the other grades untouched. Neither report gave the reason for the reduction, and the PUCSL has not commented.
