The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) bought three shipments of diesel between the last week of March and the second week of April at prices of between US$288 and US$281 per barrel, General Manager Mayura Neththikumarage said this week.
Thus, the CPC acquired 240,000 barrels on March 31, 2026, at the cost of US$285 per barrel; 295,000 barrels on April 6-7 at the cost of US$288 per barrel; and 254,000 barrels on April 7-8 at US$281 per barrel, he said.
Asked for the free-on-board prices and the premium prices (freight, profit and supplier commission), Mr Neththikumarage said the Platts benchmark price of the first shipment was US$237.28, while the premium was US$48 (nearly US$50); during pre-war, it was around US$3.
The Platts benchmark price for the second shipment was US$242.42, and the premium was US$45.64. For the third shipment, it was US$231.18, with the premium being US$50.69.
These costs have already been factored into the local prices at the pump, the GM said. On March 21, Lanka auto diesel was increased by Rs 79 to Rs 382 per litre (from Rs 303); and Lanka super diesel went up by Rs 90 per litre to Rs 443 (from Rs 353).
All bids went through the established tender procedure, and the prices and quantities were approved by the Cabinet before CPC effected the purchase.
CPC prices were only made public after HSBC Group’s CEO, Georges Elhedery, in a fireside chat with Bloomberg TV, revealed that the highest price he has seen paid for a barrel of oil was US$286—and that it went to Sri Lanka.
Mr Elhedery is reported as saying he is not worried about the headline price of oil but the shipping and insurance costs.
“Realistically, if you try to get oil from the Red Sea, you are paying more than $30, $40 for shipping. Insurance costs, which used to be 25 basis points, are more like 5%, and war insurance has been scrapped — you’re paying 5% without even the war insurance component,” he explains.
“So, the barrel of oil door to door or the barrel of refined oil door to door is way above the headline price of oil,” he continues. “The highest I’ve seen, and I’m hoping we don’t see more of that, but the highest I’ve seen is $286 for a barrel of oil that reached Sri Lanka. This is not a country and an economy that can easily afford these kinds of prices sustainably.”
But local media mistakenly reported that the HSBC CEO had said Sri Lanka bought a barrel of “crude” oil (and not refined oil) for US$286. The CPC issued a denial and threatened to sue.
Chairman D.J.A.S. De S. Rajakaruna held a news conference on Friday. He said that after the war broke out, Sri Lanka received a Murban crude oil shipment from Fujairah on March 11 at the price of US $66.80 per barrel.
The supply then stopped, after which a second crude shipment arrived on Friday at the price of US$ 71.99 per barrel, he said. Another shipment will come at the end of April, costing US$ 71.81 per barrel, and one in mid-May costing US$ 113.29 per barrel.
Upon being pressed to reveal how much it had paid for other categories of oil, Mr Rajakaruna confirmed that CPC had bought diesel at the price the HSBC CEO had cited. He said the average price of diesel in February was US$ 88.83 per barrel. In March, it was US$191.73, and in April, it is US$199.70 up to now.
The data provided by CPC indicates (reproduced above), however, that Sri Lanka paid a significantly higher price than the averages Mr Rajakaruna quoted.
- https://www.sundaytimes.lk/260419/n...ng-over-us281-for-a-barrel-of-oil-639459.html
