Lanka IOC has raised the price of a litre of Octane 95 petrol by Rs 20, taking it to Rs 495 from midnight on Sunday night, the LIOC Distributors’ Association said.
The increase was reported by Hiru News at 11.01 p.m. on 25 October, giving motorists about an hour’s notice before the new price took effect going into Monday.
Who announced it
The announcement is attributed to the LIOC Distributors’ Association — the dealers’ body — rather than issued by Lanka IOC itself. No company statement is quoted in the filing.
That distinction matters because every recent Lanka IOC revision this desk has recorded was framed as the company moving in line with the state Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. When prices were revised on 30 September, Managing Director K. Ragu said LIOC was following the CPC: Octane 92 rose Rs 15 and White Diesel Rs 10, while Octane 95 and kerosene were left unchanged.
The arithmetic checks out
Octane 95 — sold by Lanka IOC as Octane 95 Euro 4 — has stood at Rs 475 since that revision, a figure confirmed by NewsFirst’s account of the 30 September changes. The same Rs 475 retail price appears in the comparison table former minister Patali Champika Ranawaka used in early October when he demanded the government publish its fuel pricing formula, setting retail prices against Singapore FOB prices.
Rs 475 plus the Rs 20 increase gives exactly the Rs 495 Hiru reports, so the two figures in the filing are internally consistent.
Rs 495 is not a new price point for this grade. A Rs 495 Petrol 95 figure appeared in reporting on 1 October and was assessed by this desk as an error at the time, with Rs 475 established as the correct price. That assessment stands for 1 October; the grade has only now actually reached Rs 495.
Not reported
The filing does not give a reason for the increase, say whether any other grade moved, or state whether the CPC or Sinopec will follow.
No CPC revision has been reported alongside this one. If the state corporation holds at Rs 475, a private distributor will be selling the same grade Rs 20 above the state price — a break from the pattern in which LIOC has tracked CPC.
At the time of writing no other verified newsroom had filed on the increase. The Daily Mirror’s breaking-news listing, checked directly, carried no fuel item.