CPC losing heavily on furness oil to CEB

The Ceylon Petro- leum Corporation (CPC) sells furness oil at a huge loss to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). This situation has caused a huge financial loss to the CPC, Petroleum Minister Susil Premajayantha said. The Minister said so when he met several businessmen engaged in the lubricant oil importing business.

The CPC sells a liter of furness oil at Rs 25 to the Electricity Board to generate electricity. However, a litre of furness oil costs Rs 60. The CPC sells one litre to private electricity generating companies at Rs. 26. The CPC has incurred a loss of Rs 2.4 billion, the Minister pointed out.

More than 45,000 kilo litre of lubricant oil is used in the country annually. Of this, 34,000 Kilo litres are used by motor vehicles.

The balance 11,000 is used in the industrial sector and for heavy equipment and aeroplanes, ships and trains. Therefore alternative power generation systems have to be implemented, Minister Premajayantha said.