Energy Minister Anura Karunathilake told Parliament on Tuesday that fuel queues should ease by Wednesday or Thursday, and put figures on how far the three private distributors have cut supply to the Sri Lankan market.
Measured against February, Lanka IOC has reduced its market release of auto diesel by 45%, Euro super diesel by 88% and petrol Octane 92 by 3%, the minister said. Sinopec has cut diesel by 66% and Octane 92 by 30%, EconomyNext reported.
The companies say they cannot sell at prevailing regulated prices. “All those companies are stating that they cannot sell at the prevailing market price in Sri Lanka. However, we do not have the ability to increase prices proportionately to that. In light of this, they have restricted the fuel released to the market,” Karunathilake said.
The state corporation is absorbing the gap
The arithmetic of who is now supplying the country has shifted sharply. The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s share of market supply has risen from 54% to 82%, the minister said. Against February, CPC has increased market releases of diesel by 28%, super diesel by 44%, Octane 95 by 7% and Octane 92 by 19%.
He also drew a commercial distinction between the two sets of suppliers: the private companies do not sell on credit, while CPC does, working on a three-day advance window. “Therefore, because this additional load is being absorbed by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, we believe and anticipate, Honourable Speaker, that this issue will ease to some extent by Wednesday or Thursday.”
What the government says it cannot do
Karunathilake was explicit about the limits of his powers under the distribution agreements. “Under these existing agreements, we have no power whatsoever to issue orders directing fuel stations to distribute fuel in a specific manner,” he said in response to opposition questioning. “What we are able to do is issue certain directives to maintain minimum fuel stock levels within Sri Lanka.”
Those directives have now been issued. Hiru News reported that the Secretary to the Ministry of Energy has written to all fuel companies instructing them to maintain the minimum stock levels required under their agreements. The minister said notices went to companies that had failed to do so last week, and that the Ministry Secretary notified the companies again on Monday to act in a way that avoids creating shortages.
Daily Mirror reported that queues lengthened on Tuesday because fuel distribution was suspended on Sunday, with some private companies limiting supplies over losses. The minister gave the same two causes to Parliament — the distributors’ restrictions, plus the normal Sunday halt in releases, with a knock-on effect into Monday.
This settles a dispute between two industry bodies
The minister’s account resolves a direct contradiction published a day earlier. On Monday the Ceylon Petroleum Private Tanker Owners Association said there was no shortage and urged the public to stop panic buying, attributing queues to individual stations failing to order on time. The Petroleum Dealers’ Association said the opposite on the same day — that Lanka IOC, Sinopec and R.M. Parks had restricted distribution because they were selling below cost.
The minister’s figures support the dealers’ account rather than the tanker owners’. The restriction is real, it is measurable, and it sits with the three distributors — not with late ordering by station operators.
Not reported
Neither filing gives a figure for how many stations were affected, nor current national stock levels. R.M. Parks is named in the dealers’ account but the minister’s published figures cover only Lanka IOC and Sinopec, and no reduction percentage has been given for it. None of the three companies has responded publicly. The minister referred to notices issued last week “specifically to X company” without the company being named in the reporting, and no filing says what happens if the Wednesday-or-Thursday expectation is not met, or whether a price revision is under consideration.
