Sri Lanka Petroleum Ministry to stop providing fuel at subsidized rates to CEB

Sri Lanka's fuel authority, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) would not provide fuel to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) at concessionary rates from January 2011, Sri Lanka's Petroleum Ministry has said.

Petroleum Minister Susil Premajayantha has said the CPC decision has already been communicated to the Treasury.

The Minister says that massive losses were incurred by the CPC due to the continuous supply of fuel at concessionary rates and that supply from January 2011 would be made to actual costs.

Premajayantha has explained that although the production cost of a liter of furnace oil was Rs.60, the CPC supplied a liter of oil to the CEB at Rs. 40 incurring a loss of Rs. 20 per liter.

The dues from the CPC to CEB stood at Rs. 55 billion by December 31, 2009.