More diesel, petrol shipments being unloaded

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Minister of Energy, Gamini Lokuge, yesterday said that they had dispatched 2,000 metric tonnes of diesel to outstations over the weekend.

Addressing the media in Colombo he said that diesel was still being unloaded from a ship carrying 38 000 metric tonnes of the fuel.

“We have paid them on Friday but due to a technical issue, there was a delay in unloading,” he said.

Minister Lokuge said that a ship carrying 37 500 metric tonnes of petrol would arrive today (15) and that money had already been paid for the shipment.

Another ship with 20,000 metric tonnes of diesel and 20,000 metric tonnes of jet fuel had already arrived in the country, but the Ministry had still not paid for the fuel, he said.

“There are also reports of queues for kerosene. We have started dispatching fuel to gas stations but there is a shortage of bowsers, too,” he said.

Minister Lokuge on Sunday (13) told journalists that at least seven months would be needed to permanently end the current fuel and gas queues in Sri Lanka. Most of Sri Lanka’s problems had been caused by external circumstances, he said.

The crisis in Ukraine was set to plunge the entire world into an economic crisis, he said. Sri Lanka needed to increase trade with foreign nations and bring in hard currencies into the country, the Minister said.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is attempting to strengthen the Sri Lankan economy by strengthening the tourism sector and exports.

The President also had ambitious plans to expand renewable sources of power that would reduce Sri Lanka’s dependency on fossil fuels, he said. That would greatly assist the foreign exchange situation of the country, he added.