SL to revamp, double refinery capacity: minister

REUTERS: Sri Lanka plans to upgrade its sole oil refinery and double its capacity to boost output and to reduce the cost of importing refined fuels, the country’s Petroleum Resources Minister Chandima Weerakkody said yesterday. The island nation is home to a single oil refinery, Ceylon Petroleum Corp’s (CPC) decadesold 50,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) plant.

It was originally configured to run on Iranian crude and Sri Lanka had to import more refined oil products after U.S. sanctions caused it to stop crude imports from Iran. CPC replaced the Iranian crude with supply from Malaysia and Abu Dhabi but the efficiency of processing the grades was low.