LPG supply: Litro to supply 500,000 cylinders this week
- 60% cylinder supplies for Colombo and Gampaha
- Another 7,000 MT shipment due tomorrow
- Awaits WB counter guarantee for LCs
By Skandha Gunasekara
Litro Gas will be distributing LP Gas (LPG) cylinders over the next six days and is expecting to provide gas cylinders in an uninterrupted manner for another two weeks with the arrival of a 7,000 metric tonne (MT) shipment last week.
Litro Gas Lanka Ltd. Chairman Vijitha Herath told The Sunday Morning yesterday (21) that the company would be providing 80,000 gas cylinders per day for the next six days.
“Today we completed unloading 3,950 MT of LPG and will be supplying 80,000 cylinders per day and 60% – numbering around 50,000 cylinders – will be delivered to Colombo and Gampaha urban areas. We have around six days’ worth of stocks.”
He said that a payment for an additional 7,000 MT of LPG from Oman would be made on Monday (23).
“On Monday we are planning to pay $ 7 million for two shipments of 7,000 MT. Hopefully with this shipment we will be able to supply gas for another two weeks. The shipment is from Oman and the ships have already departed; we expect them to arrive mid next week,” he said, noting that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) had committed the dollars for the payment.
He went on to say that Litro was set to sign an agreement with the Omani company to import a further 30,000 MT of LPG, but was still in the process of arranging the funds.
“We are also planning to sign an agreement with Oman for another 30,000 MT. However, we need to give them $ 31.5 million Standby Letters of Credit (LCs) and we are expecting a counter guarantee from the World Bank, so this process will take some time.”
Herath then revealed that around $ 160 million from the Indian Line of Credit (LOC) had been allocated to import LPG, of which Litro would be given $ 120 million.
“We have already advertised our tender for Indian suppliers from the Indian credit line. We have a facility of around $ 160 million, out of which $ 120 million has been allocated to Litro. Hopefully we’ll be able to get the price in two weeks. From the $ 120 million we can get around 120,000 MT as 1,000 MT is priced at $ 1 million.”
