28 May 2022 03:02 pm
With the commencement of the unloading 79,000 metric tons of crude oil from a freight tanker anchored in Sri Lankan waters yesterday, the Sapugaskanda oil refinery is to kick off operations today after two months, the Co-Chairman of the Petroleum Branch of the Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya (SLNSS) said.
They said the refining operations at the Sapugaskanda plant stopped on March 21 due to the absence of crude oil.
SLNSS said "The Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery was able to resume operations with the commencement of unloading crude oil from the freight tanker anchored in Sri Lankan waters for more than two months awaiting settlement to be made through US dollars."
However, they said diesel and petrol will be released first, followed by naphtha for power generation and kerosene at the end.
The refined fuel can be obtained by June 6, they said.
Soon after, the present refining process of crude oil, the refinery has to be closed again.
Therefore, the SLNSS requested the government to continue with the process of getting down crude oil.
"The government has the ability to procure crude oil now after increasing the fuel prices. "People are buying fuel by paying money on the spot. So, the government and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) are getting their profit.
We are hoping that the crude oil price in the world market would come down and the government would continue its procurement process," the SLNSS added. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)