Sri Lanka hikes petrol to Rs361, diesel to Rs341
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) , hiked the prices of Octane 92 Petrol by 13 rupees to 361 rupees a litre and Auto Diesel by 35 rupees to 417 rupees effective midnight Thursday (31).
Prices of Octane 95 Petrol/Euro 4 was raised by 42 rupees to 417 rupees, Super diesel/Euro 4 by 1 rupee to 359 rupees, and kerosene by 5 rupees to 231 rupees.
The steep subsidy on kerosene has incentivized diesel bus owners to use the fuel in the past.
The hike comes as China’s Sinopec started operations opening its first filling stations. The firm said it was selling petrol and diesel 3 rupees below the state formula.
Meanwhile, oil prices in the global market retreated from highs hit earlier on Thursday as data showed rises in production in OPEC+ countries despite a planned production cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd).
Brent crude futures for October, expiring on Thursday, were at $86.69 a barrel at 11:02 a.m. CDT (1602 GMT), up 0.89%, or 76 cents, after rising more than $1 earlier in the session. The more active November contract was up 56 cents, or 0.66%, at $85.80.
US West Texas Intermediate crude futures for October was up 65 cents, or 0.8%, at $82.28 a barrel.
Markets seemed to look at higher-than-expected OPEC+ production as trading moved to the middle of the day, said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Price Futures Group.
“I think it took some of the wind out of their sails,” Flynn said.
Earlier on Thursday, Flynn said, the markets were reacting to US government data on Wednesday (30) that showed the country’s crude inventories fell by a larger-than-expected 10.6 million barrels last week, depleted by high exports and refinery runs.
Meanwhile, analysts expect Saudi Arabia to extend a voluntary oil production cut of 1 million bpd into October, adding to cuts put in place by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, a grouping known as OPEC+.
-EN/Agencies
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