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Energy crisis: Refinery online this week

22 Jan 2022

 
  • Crude oil shipments expected midweek: CPC Chairman
  • CEB given diesel for 6 days
  By Asiri Fernando The Sapugaskanda Refinery is expected to recommence operations on Friday (28), The Sunday Morning learns.  Sri Lanka’s sole refinery was shut down at the end of last month, with Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila citing lack of adequate foreign currency to pay for crude oil imports needed to refine petroleum products for local use.  Responding to a query, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe said the State supplier was confident the refinery could recommence operations next week.  “We plan to start operations on 27 or 28 Janury and expect crude oil shipments on 25 or 26 January. Soon after receiving crude oil, we can start the refinery process,” Wijesinghe said. Sri Lanka has been struggling to find dollars needed to open Letters of Credit (LCs) for energy imports for several months, with the Government seeking credit facilities from Oman, India, China and other countries to sustain supply.  Last year, the Energy Ministry had notified the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to pay long-held debts or find forex to import the fuel needed for generation.  The closure of the refinery due to sourcing crude oil had a follow-on effect on electricity power generation, with several power plants which run on furnace oil and diesel running dry over the last few weeks, causing power outages. Furnace oil, a product of the refinery process, is used to power a number of supplementary thermal power generation plants when hydropower capacity drops due to lack of rainfall.  Last Friday (21), Wijesinghe blamed the CEB for not clearly stating their fuel requirements, which he said caused delays in supply.  When asked if the CPC would continue to supply furnace oil from its reserve to the CEB for power generation, Wijesinghe said that they would supply the quantity requested by the CEB up to now. According to the CEB, adequate diesel stocks have been provided for power generation needs for the next six days.  


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