Sinopec adjusts fuel price to grab local petroleum market share

Sinopec Energy Lanka (Pvt) Ltd is on its own way to grab the Sri Lanka fuel retail market by selling below Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) prices of petrol and diesel sales at their filling stations since its entry in the country in September this year.     

The government has allowed the Chinese company sell fuel at prices lower than those of the CPC if they willing to do so, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said.

At the beginning the Chinese company started selling diesel and petrol for Rs 3 below the price set by state-run CPC, official records shows.

Sinopec is now selling a litre of octane 92 petrol at Rs. 358 which is Rs. 7 less than the CPC and Lanka Indian Oil Company price of octane 92 petrol at Rs. 365.

This tactic of the Chinese company has affected the sale of petrol at other fuel filling stations, a senior marketing official of the CPC complained.   

This company has a 20-year franchise from the government and will take over 150 fuel stations, now operated by CPC, he said adding that Sinopec had invested in 50 new filling stations.

The company is expected to import fuel with its own funds for a year, Energy Minister Wijesekera disclosed.

If this practice is allowed without regulating the new company, then the CPC will have to close down their petrol sheds countrywide in the near future, the senior official added.  

Sinopec also extends a credit period of three days to the petrol stations under their control. (Bandula)