As the island nation grapples with foreign exchange shortages induced by money printing, Sri Lanka expects acute fuel shortages to alleviate as imports from an Indian credit line begin to arrive, according to Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe.
“We acquired all the completed products, such as petrol, diesel, and jet fuel, through the Indian credit line,” Wijesinghe stated. “On 13th and 14th of March, we have already received jet fuel.” Another diesel ship has arrived, and unloading will begin tomorrow.” According to Wijesinghe, the public appears to be storing up on gasoline, and generators are in high demand due to daily power outages of up to 5 hours.
“The daily demand for diesel was 5,500 metric tonnes and 3,300 metric tonnes for petrol (before the crisis),” Wijesinghe said. “Now due to the excess buying we see in the country we have been issuing 7000-8000 MT of diesel and 4200-4500 MT of Petrol from CPC storage to the market in the past few days.”
“In Muthurajawela, a 92-octane petrol ship is unloading, and it will be finished tonight,” Wijesinghe added.
Another Jet-A1 ship and a diesel ship have begun unloading in Colombo port, and two more diesels and a Jet-A1 ship are scheduled to unload in ports.” Separately, Petroleum Minister Gamini Lokuge told reporters that unloading to the Muturajawela complex, which was not connected to the rail network, caused delays in fuel distribution to the provinces.
