• Crude oil tankers unable to unload for 40 days
• CPC to stock adequate crude oil for refinery

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) will begin a 45-day major overhaul of the Single Point Buoy Mooring (SPBM) facility installed 9.2 km away from the Colombo Port which is used to supply crude oil from the tanker to the intermediate crude oil storage tank farm at Orugodawatta, The Sunday Morning learns.

The SPBM facility, an offshore buoy with pipelines running ashore, has been in need of repairs for a long time, it is learnt.

According to CPC Chairman Mohamed Uvais Mohamed, the overhaul process is expected to last 45 days and will commence on 20 January.

“We have planned a major overhaul of our SPBM, where crude oil is discharged by tankers and carried ashore. Our plan is to start on 20 January and some components will also be replaced during the 45-day programme. We will remove some components and replace them, while other components we will remove, bring ashore to repair, and return to service with the buoy,” Mohamed explained.

When asked how the overhaul process would affect the operations of the only refinery in Sri Lanka, Mohamed stated that the CPC had planned to have enough crude oil stocks secured ashore for a period of 45-50 days to ensure that the Sapugaskanda Refinery’s operations were uninterrupted.

“We have another crude oil tanker expected to discharge on 17 January and with that stock ashore, we [CPC] will have 45-50 days of crude oil to run the refinery without issues. That window will be used for the overhaul,” Mohamed explained.

In September 2018, a leak of one of the seabed pipelines which connects the buoy to the tank farm ashore sprang a leak, causing crude oil to leak into the coastline off Muthurajawela, with tides pooling crude oil at Besama Beach in Uswetakeiyawa, which is a popular bathing spot for locals and tourists. 

At the time, the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) stated that it would take years for the coastline to recover from the oil spill. The CPC officials said that the SPBM and its pipeline were long overdue for repair and overhaul.

In 2015, a kerosene leak from the pipeline running to the Muthurajawela storage facility caused damage to habitat in the area.