CPC rules out fuel shortage

Saturday, 7 November 2026 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation yesterday said there is no fuel shortage, after private distributors cut volumes and queues formed in areas without a nearby State filling station.

The CPC said reserves were adequate and that it was releasing stock continuously through its Ceypetco network, with distribution uninterrupted. The corporation said the problem was not supply but the withdrawal of volumes by certain private companies, which it attributed to their operational losses. Long queues had formed where no Ceypetco station operates nearby, it said.

The CPC said 52 such locations had been identified and that at a meeting chaired by the Secretary with all fuel companies, the firms agreed to prioritise supplies to those areas when distributing available stocks.

It said the companies had confirmed their reduced volumes were down to losses, and had now undertaken to serve the designated locations first. CPC said minor queues may still appear in places where private distribution has fallen, but that it had raised its own volumes to compensate and there was no disruption or deficit in distribution.