Daily Mirror
Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) said today -it had requested the government to permit the company to increase the price of a litre petrol by Rs.20 and the price of a litre of diesel by Rs.5 owing to the huge losses incurred by it.
LIOC Managing Director Suresh Kumara said the company was hopeful of receiving a favourable response from the government.
“We lose Rs.30 on every litre of diesel we sell and on a litre of petrol we lose Rs.2. We have to increase the prices to mitigate our losses. This is why we have requested an increase in fuel prices,” Mr. Kumara said.
He said the price of diesel cannot be increased much since it was used mainly for public transportation and could hamper the public transport system. Therefore he said the losses that are incurred in the sales of diesel should be compensated by the gains made in the sale of petrol Mr. Kumara said international crude oil prices have risen rapidly with a barrel of Brent crude oil costing US $115.
“Neighbouring countries have increased their fuel prices accordingly. We will have to increase fuel prices as well because we cannot survive with the losses that we are incurring at present,” he said.
LIOC last increased the price of petrol and diesel in April from Rs.115 to Rs.125 on a litre of petrol and from Rs.78 to Rs.85 on a litre of disel. By SD and OJ
