CPC restarts refinery after planned shutdown

SINGAPORE, (Reuters): Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Petroleum Corp (Ceypetco) restarted production at its sole 50,000-barrel-per-day Sapugaskanda refinery on the outskirts of Colombo on Wednesday, industry sources said on Friday.

The refinery was shut on 2 July for planned maintenance, prompting the company to seek additional oil products to plug the supply shortfall.

A few of the refinery’s secondary units are still in the process of being re-started, with all units expected to be fully up by 13 August, one of the sources said.

The additional capacity combined with the onset of the monsoon season is expected to reduce diesel demand from Sri Lanka in coming months, traders said.

Separately, the company has yet to award a prompt diesel cargo it was seeking for delivery on 11 August in a tender that closed on 7 August. The tender is expected to be cancelled, one of the sources said, although the reason is unclear.

Ceypetco had sought the cargo after removing oil trader Vitol SA from its supplier list.