CPC has petrol till the end of the month – CPC official

By Chaminda Silva

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) had petrol stocks sufficient till 30 August, a senior CPC officer said.He added that a ship carrying 92 octane petrol would reach Sri Lanka on 27 August and the Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery would start producing petrol by next week.

“We have now got diesel. We have enough petrol till 30 August. We will receive a ship carrying petrol on 27 August. Anyway, the refinery, too, will start producing petrol by next week,” he said.

He added that the CPC had received shipments of 70, 000 metric tons of diesel and 120,000 metric tons of crude oil by Thursday night.During the last 72 hours, two ships, carrying 30,000 and 40,000 metric tons of diesel, had arrived. The CPC had managed to pay for the diesel consignment by Thursday and the unloading has begun, the CPC officer said.

The unloading of the crude oil had also commenced, a senior CPC officer said.He added that they had recommenced operations at the Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery. “We have processed kerosene, furnace oil and jet fuel. On Thursday, we started processing diesel, and we can start processing petrol by Sunday,” he said.The CPC official said that there was a shortage of fuel in the market. However, things would return to normal over the weekend, he said.