Sri Lanka, June 4 -- Last morning, if you filled your tank with Petrol 92 at any CEYPETCO station across Sri Lanka, you would have paid Rs. 434 per litre. Twelve weeks ago, you would have paid Rs. 293. In November 2015, you paid Rs. 117.

The number on that board did not happen overnight, and it was not caused by any single decision. It is the result of three forces colliding simultaneously: a decade of structural price changes, a war that erupted in the Middle East and cut off a critical global oil route, and a Sri Lankan rupee that has lost over 5% of its value against the US dollar since January 2026.

This article explains all three - with data, with context and without simplification. It also tells the story that rarely makes headl...