Lanka petrol crisis ends after IOC raises prices

The confusion over the Sri Lankan Supreme Court judgment on petrol price reduction that prompted the Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC) to bring down costs without the others following suit has ended with the Indian company raising prices to the original level. The failure of the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) to act in consonance with the LIOC vis-à-vis the Supreme Court judgment meant that the petrol users thronged the Indian petrol filling stations to take advantage of the lower prices. As a result, the petrol filling stations of LIOC, a subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation, were going dry after it decided to reduce petrol prices by around 18% even as the government debated the surprise order. (December 26, 2008)