The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has raised fuel prices effective midnight Saturday, lifting all five products it sells at the pump.
Under the revision, 92 octane petrol rises by Rs. 12 to Rs. 410 a litre, while 95 octane petrol increases by Rs. 15 to Rs. 470. Lanka Auto Diesel goes up by Rs. 10 to Rs. 392, Super Diesel by Rs. 15 to Rs. 458, and kerosene by Rs. 10 to Rs. 265.
The price revision was announced by the CPC late on Saturday evening and confirmed by NewsFirst, Newswire and Ada Derana within hours of the cut-off.
By Sunday morning Lanka IOC (LIOC) had matched the move, raising its Petrol 92 to Rs. 410 and Auto Diesel to Rs. 392 with effect from midnight Saturday. LIOC said its Petrol 95, Super Diesel and kerosene prices were unchanged.
Saturday’s hike confirms a warning issued only hours earlier by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the May Day rally in Colombo, where he told supporters that “small-scale fuel price increases may be necessary” because crude prices were continuing to escalate. The President said the government had allocated Rs. 60 billion to subsidise fuel but that the cost of imports had outrun the cushion.
The increase is the first under the weekly fuel price revision formula approved by Cabinet earlier this year, which links domestic pump prices to import costs and the rupee exchange rate.
Sri Lanka’s fuel pricing has been under pressure since Brent crude rallied above $100 a barrel through much of April, driven by the Iran–Israel conflict and US enforcement action in the Strait of Hormuz. CPC had absorbed those costs through April using the Treasury allocation, but officials have warned that sustaining the subsidy was no longer viable.
Sources: NewsFirst, Newswire, Ada Derana — CPC, Newswire — LIOC, NewsFirst — LIOC, Ada Derana — LIOC.
