Sri Lanka gets Russian oil to ease shortages

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka on Saturday took delivery of Russian oil to restart operations at the country's only refinery. Energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera said,"I have made an official request to the Russian ambassador for direct supplies of Russian oil and  crude alone cannot fulfil the requirement as the country need other refined products too," the minister said.  Wijesekera said Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) was already in arrears of $735 million to suppliers and no one came forward to even bid for its oil tenders. The minister added that the Siberian grade was not an ideal match for the refinery, which is optimised for Iranian light crude, but no other supplier was willing to extend credit.

Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, the state-run refinery was shut in March due to the foreign exchange crunch, which left the government being unable to finance crude imports. The Russian crude oil delivery has been waiting offshore at Colombo's port for over a month as the island nation was unable to raise $75 million to pay for it. Around 90,000 tonnes of Siberian light crude will be sent to Sri Lanka's refinery after the shipment was acquired on credit from Dubai-based intermediary Coral Energy. The Sapugaskanda refinery on Colombo's outskirts will resume work in about two days. Sri Lanka has been facing its worst financial crisis of the country’s independent history, with shortages of everything from food to oil.Fuel supplies are so low that the government told citizens not to queue for gasoline at filling stations.