The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation is selling a litre of diesel for Rs. 136 less than it says the fuel costs it, Chairman D.J. Rajakaruna said on Thursday, setting out the arithmetic behind the price rise that took effect at midnight on 30 September.
Rajakaruna put the cost of a litre of diesel at approximately Rs. 528 against a pump price of Rs. 392. Of the Rs. 136 difference, the government will meet Rs. 70 under the relief package that began this month and the CPC will absorb roughly Rs. 66.
All three main fuels are selling below cost
The chairman’s figures describe a corporation under-recovering across its main product line, not just on diesel:
| Product | Cost per litre | Pump price | Shortfall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diesel | ~Rs. 528 | Rs. 392 | Rs. 136 |
| Super Diesel | ~Rs. 581 | Rs. 528 | Rs. 53 |
| Octane 92 petrol | Rs. 446 | Rs. 414 | Rs. 32 |
Rajakaruna attributed the pressure to global prices, saying the crude Sri Lanka buys had risen from around USD 69 to approximately USD 115 a barrel measured against February, the base month he used for comparison. That is his account of the corporation’s import costs rather than a market benchmark, and no other outlet has independently published the figure.
A note on one confusing number. Rs. 528 appears twice above for different reasons — it is what the CPC says diesel costs, and it is also the retail price of Super Diesel after last week’s Rs. 50 increase. The two are unrelated.
What the minister said the subsidy actually does
Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka told the Daily Mirror the Rs. 70 per litre will be paid to fuel distribution companies and calculated on the volume of diesel each sells in a given month. It will be released over three months — Rs. 15 billion in October, Rs. 13.5 billion in November and Rs. 12.5 billion in December.
Karunathilaka was explicit that the subsidy will not make distributors whole. Companies have reported diesel losses ranging from Rs. 120 to Rs. 247 a litre, he said, citing figures of Rs. 135, Rs. 247, Rs. 192 and Rs. 120 from different firms. Some had begun restricting diesel supplies, pushing additional demand onto the CPC.
Despite that, he said he expected the corporation to avoid an overall loss for the year, with revenue from petrol, aviation fuel and refinery operations offsetting the diesel shortfall.
The private distributors’ numbers do not match the CPC’s
The gap is the most striking thing in the two accounts read together. The CPC puts its own diesel under-recovery at Rs. 136 a litre; private distributors are reporting losses up to Rs. 247, nearly double. Neither the minister nor the chairman explains the spread, which could reflect different import contracts, timing or cost definitions. It is unresolved in the reporting.
Where the Rs. 41 billion figure comes from
Both the minister and the CPC describe the package as Rs. 41 billion. LankaNewz’s record of the Cabinet’s approval on 29 September puts the approved total at Rs. 40.65 billion.
The difference is now traceable to a single line. October (Rs. 15bn) and November (Rs. 13.5bn) match the approved tranches exactly; the December allocation is given here as Rs. 12.5 billion against the Rs. 12.15 billion approved — a gap of Rs. 350 million. Rs. 41 billion was also the figure President Dissanayake announced at Gampaha on 27 September, before Cabinet set the line items. Whether December’s tranche was revised upward or simply rounded is not addressed by either outlet.
Lanka IOC has matched the increase
Lanka IOC raised its prices in line with the CPC, Managing Director K. Ragu said. Octane 92 went up Rs. 15 and White Diesel Rs. 10. Its Super Diesel is unchanged because the company already sells it at Rs. 600 — well above the CPC’s new Rs. 528.
NewsFirst’s account also confirms the full CPC price set: Octane 92 at Rs. 414, Super Diesel at Rs. 528, White Diesel at Rs. 392, with Octane 95 at Rs. 475 and kerosene at Rs. 285 both unchanged.
Not reported
Neither account gives the volumes behind the per-litre figures, so the corporation’s total under-recovery cannot be calculated. Neither says whether the quoted costs include taxes and levies, nor what happens to the subsidy if global prices fall before December.
