LIOC regains monthly diesel market share

Ravi Ladduwahetty

Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC) has regained its lost diesel market share of 28 million litres per month since it levelled the price of Rs. 110 per litre with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation on June 27.

“We decided to increase the price of diesel to Rs. 130 per litre on May 28 due to staggering losses which was Rs. 20 more than the CPC price and our sales dropped to 3 million litres for that month and now our market share has risen to the original 28 million litres per month,” Lanka IOC Managing Director/CEO Krishnan Ramakrishnan told Daily News Business yesterday

Responding to a question as to whether LIOC was mulling a price decrease for petrol in the light of the global crude oil price for petrol decreasing to US$ 119 per barrel, the LIOC Managing Director said the company’s latest import a 25,000- tonne parcel of petrol from Reliance Industries in Singapore will arrive early August and was expected to last till end September.

Whatever decision to maintain or reduce the petrol prices will have to be taken will be early September when the parcel will be over and also at what level the prices of global crude oil will be at that time, he explained.

He also pointed out that the company was yet incurring a loss of Rs. 7.50 per litre for petrol and whether a decision for a price reduction on petrol will be made will be also in the backdrop of the current losses.