IOC sales agents call on Govt. to regularise fuel price

Sales agents of the Lanka Indian Oil Company PLC (LIOC) yesterday called on the government to develop a mechanism for the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CEYPETCO) and the LIOC to implement a common pricing formula.

The Lanka United IOC Sales Agents Union said that both the sales agents as well as the consumers faced difficulties as a result of the two institutions selling fuel at two different prices.

They lamented that the sales at the LIOC filling stations had gone down as the prices at those stations were higher than the prices at filling stations of the CEYPETCO

They expressed these views at a media briefing held at the Mahaweli Reach Hotel in Kandy.

The representative of the Lanka United IOC Sales Agents Union said that the LIOC increased fuel prices at will and the current diesel price at LIOC filling stations was Rs. 6 higher than that of CEYPETCO filling stations which had resulted in a 50 percent sales drop at the LIOC outlets.

Another representative of the union Susantha Kosala Widanagamage said that there was an agreement between the LIOC and the CEYPETCO until 2010 to implement the same prices but the LIOC resorted to sell fuel at a higher rate after the agreement lapsed in 2010.

Therefore, the sales agents requested the government to entrust the authority of fuel pricing to the Consumer Affairs Authority.