Sri Lanka’s Sapugaskanda oil refinery to release 800MT of diesel to market

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s sole oil refinery in Sapugaskanda will supply 800 metric tonnes of diesel to the market starting Monday (06) after being closed for over two months due to a lack of crude oil and a technical glitch, reports said.

The refinery that had been closed for over two months due to a lack of crude oil recommenced operations on May 27 but has been out of commission for a week due to a technical issue in one of its burners.

The state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) announced on Monday that the diesel produced in the refinery will be distributed to the market later that day.

CPC Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe has said 800 metric tonnes of diesel will be distributed to the market on Monday while 1,500 metric tonnes are to be released in the coming days, the privately owned NewsFirst network reported Monday afternoon.

The chairman has also said that a ship carrying 40,000 metric tonnes of diesel is set to arrive in Sri Lanka on June 15 under the Indian credit line.

Last week, CPC Trade Union spokesperson Ananda Palitha told Economy Next that the refinery was opened to run on low capacity with only 5,200 metric tonnes of crude oil. He was sceptical about the refinery continuing to run as the country doesn’t have a steady supply of crude.

“We are not sure the next crude oil shipment will arrive. They can’t run on high output because it requires at least 90,000 metric tonnes,” he said.

“We were told that it will take another 90 days for Sri Lanka to receive the next crude. The refinery will stop again after that,” he said. (Colombo/Jun06/2022)