The run-away crude oil prices which peaked at US$ 145 a barrel have now come down to $118 -- but Sri Lankans are unlikely to get any benefit.
The CPC is scheduled to buy its next stock later this month but due to a massive customs duty of Rs. 24.50 a litre of petrol imposed by the Treasury last May, the prices will remain as they are.
Lanka Indian Oil Company Managing Director K. Ramakrishnan said the company had appealed to the Treasury in May and June against what it saw as exorbitant tax but the appeals were not heeded.
LIOC, which has a 20 percent market share, last replenished its stocks in the first week of last month and it had been selling that stock incurring a loss of Rs 9 on a litre of petrol and Rs 12 on a litre of diesel. If the massive tax on petrol is removed the compnay could pass on some benefit to the consumer, Mr. Ramakrishnan said.
He said that when the LIOC replenished stocks again next month, it would first have to recover the accumulated loss before cosidering whether it could pass on any benefits to the consumer.
Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Chairman Ashantha de Mel could not be contacted as he was said to be away in Dambulla yesterday for the Sri Lanka-India one-day international cricket series.
But other sources said when the CPC last revised the prices in May it bought crude at US $124 a barrel and at that price it would have reaped a profit on the sale of petrol. | 
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