• Sapugaskanda refinery to restart this week

  The Ministry of Power and Energy yesterday (14) announced that multiple registrations can be made under one mobile number for the fuel pass, almost a month since the fuel pass system was introduced to the country. “Government institutions, organisations, and businesses can now register multiple vehicles with one mobile number, or multiple mobile numbers under one business registration number,” Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera tweeted yesterday (14). He added that government institutes will be given guidelines on the business registration numbers assigned to them. The Minister further said that at a progress review meeting held with the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Ltd. (CPSTL) last Saturday (13), the fuel distribution to essential services – those engaged in public transport, fisheries, agriculture, industries, and tourism – was reviewed. Furthermore, data was analysed on the quantity of fuel dispensed with the QR system and instructions were issued to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) to take appropriate management decisions on the fuel stations not following the proper guidelines. During the last week of July, the Ministry of Power and Energy introduced the fuel pass or QR code system, which allocates a weekly quota of fuel to each registered vehicle, thus eliminating the need for customers to queue up for days on end, as Sri Lanka distributes its limited stocks of fuel. Meanwhile, Wijesekera said that a shipment of 100,000 MT of crude oil arrived in Sri Lanka yesterday (14), and is undergoing sample testing, with a second shipment of 120,000 MT of crude oil expected later this month. Therefore, the Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery, the country’s only refinery which faced multiple closures this year due to fuel shortages, will recommence operations from this week. According to Wijesekera, the shipments were obtained from Russian Urals Crude Oil.