Sapugaskanda refinery will have to shut down as it is fast running out of crude oil

By Shiran Ranasinghe

The Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery will have to be shut down again if the government fails to secure another shipment of crude oil within 25 days, a senior official said.

He said that after 70 days of closure, the refinery started producing furnace oil, tar, diesel, kerosene, naphtha and petrol. However, the refiner is not working at full capacity and what it produces is nowhere near what the country requires.

The 90,000 metric tonnes of crude oil that the country has purchased, will only be adequate for 20-25 days, he said.

“If the government fails to get a new shipment, we will have to close down again. Even if the refinery operates at full capacity, it can process 5,500 metric tonnes of fuel per day. However, the government’s priority has not been to purchase crude, so we are operating at half capacity,” he said.