Govt. imposes cess on fuel

[monson]

By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema

The government has introduced a Rs. 15 and Rs. 10 import cess on petrol and diesel respectively from last Wednesday (17).

Trade unions attached to the CPC say that the government’s decision to introduce the new cess would have a direct impact on any possible reduction of local fuel prices in the near future. CPC Chairman, Asantha de Mel told The Sunday Leader that the cess on petrol and diesel is now in effect as the Gazette notification has already been issued. According to the Gazette notification, a cess of Rs. 15 has been added to a litre of petrol and Rs. 10 to a litre of diesel imported into the country.

According to de Mel, the cess would be applicable to the CPC as well as the LIOC.

De Mel also ruled out any chances of reducing local fuel prices any time soon saying the Corporation needed to recover over Rs. 50 billion of the money lost by the CPC.

We cannot bring down prices immediately as we are burdened with outstanding dues and until we recover these dues the CPC is not in a position to bring down fuel prices, he said.

De Mel added that if the world oil prices remained the same or continued to decline, the government might be in a position to reduce local fuel prices through the next budget.

CPC trade unions however claim that the government should not burden the consumers with high fuel prices due to the outstanding dues amounting to billions of rupees.

Secretary, Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya CPC branch, Ananda Palitha told The Sunday Leader that recovering outstanding dues of the CPC was a matter the government had to deal with without burdening the people.

The CEB owes Rs. 40 billion and other state institutions have to pay the CPC Rs. 10 billion. The government has to find a way of recovering the money and increasing prices is not the answer, Palitha said.

He also said that the new cess on petrol and diesel would prevent the local fuel prices from being reduced.

"When the world market prices increase, the government is quick to increase local prices, but when there is a decline, local fuel prices remain the same and new levies are added to it. The government should immediately bring down local fuel prices, Palitha said.

According to Palitha, the government could sell a litre of petrol for approximately Rs. 111 after purchasing a barrel of petrol at US$ 108 and adding all the relevant taxes.

Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Minister A.H..M. Fowzie was not available for comment.

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/20080921/NEWS.HTM

 

[monson]

CPC mishandling: Low oil price won’t benefit Lankans

By Bandula Sirimanna

Though public pressure is mounting on the Government to cut fuel prices after the recent slide in the world market, this is unlikely to happen since the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has large stocks of fuel imported earlier at high prices, officials said.

Around 130,000 metric tonnes of refined oil are still stored at the Muthurajawela oil tank complex, a stock the CPC bought at an average price of US$135 a barrel.

A senior official of the CPC told The Sunday Times that under this setup the CPC was not in a position to reduce fuel prices till fresh stocks are purchased at reduced prices. On the other hand, the Corporation could not purchase fuel immediately as it has already stocked refined oil sufficient for a couple of months, he said.

World crude oil prices fell sharply to the $80 levels earlier this week but had been picking up since then and on Friday the price was about $93 a barrel for the Brent variety, according to the Central Bank.

The senior official said that if the present downward trend of oil prices continued the CPC’s oil hedging would bring negative results as it has fixed a price of oil at US $81.50 and US $90 a barrel. He said the country had gained more than US$ 10 million from six oil hedgings that started early last year and that the money was used to reduce CPC losses and maintain price stability.

Meanwhile, the government is to impose on Lanka IOC, the other fuel retailer, an additional import tax of 15% on petrol and 20% on diesel as the Indian oil company is earning huge profits on oil imports, government sources said.

They said a price revision of fuel would be announced before or after the upcoming budget. Plans are also afoot to enforce another, separate tax on the Lanka IOC. Its Managing Director K. Ramakrishnan told The Sunday Times that he also came to know about the imposition of a tax of Rs. 15 on petrol and Rs. 10 on diesel from Thursday, September 18.

UNP MP Dayasiri Jayasekera said the CPC was keeping details of oil hedging as a closely guarded secret and though the Minister of Petroleum Resources had been asked to table all these facts in parliament, he had failed to do so. He said another oil tanker carrying 50,000 metric tons of fuel ordered by CPC was expected to arrive at the Colombo port shortly and there was no storage facility available at the moment for this stock of fuel.

He noted that the CPC would have to pay heavy demurrage charges at the rate of Rs 50,000 a day for keeping the oil tanker in the outer harbour .

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said the government was not reducing prices despite the CPC earning a profit of Rs. 1.5 billion during the past three months after crude prices dropped to US $91 a barrel in the world market. He said the UNP was planning to take legal action if the government did not reduce local prices soon and the party was consulting its lawyers.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080921/News/sundaytimesnews_03.html

 

[NiyamaSinhalaya]

Government should buy oil at reduce price and store it, when the stored oil bought for higher value finish they can release the cheapest one.
There should be proper management should be bring forward to do correct investments at correct time.
People will benifit when this kind of good manangement comes and act.

 

[mutantlast]

Shit.... balapan.. ara Ekek 450 Million Hoyalalu.. owa nawattuwanam Oya cess on ne ban...

 

[sherlock]

thela bahinawa

 

[kosandpol]

WTF is a cess ??