CPC temporarily suspends refinery operations; assures no shortage
Friday, 27 June 2014 00:00
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Operations at Sapugaskanda refinery have been temporarily suspended due to a technical failure, the Managing Director of Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) Susantha de Silva said.
The official said the operations at the Sapugaskanda oil refinery were halted for four days to repair a broken pipeline to the buoy and investigations are underway to determine the cause.
The Managing Director assured that there will not be a fuel shortage although the repairs to the pipeline may take few days.
However, a senior official of the refinery speaking to a local Sinhala daily said the technical failure is due to not upgrading the refinery.
The official said that only one zone of the refinery is operating at the moment.
The refinery cannot produce Octane 92 petrol which is sold in the local market and mixes the low Octane petrol with Octane 95 petrol which is imported bearing a high cost, the official said.
He further stated that unloading of two ships of crude oil which are anchored in Colombo port has also been suspended due to leaks in the pipeline from the buoy to the storage tanks.
The official said that the CPC was paying US$ 50,000 each per day to the two ships as demurrage.
