Energy Minister Gamini Lokuge yesterday said that there will be no queues at filling stations after Thursday and the people will have the opportunity to purchase fuel without any hassle.
Minister Lokuge gave this assurance at a media briefing held at the Ministry of Energy yesterday (07) after assuming duties as the new Minister of Energy.
With the measures taken by the Government to overcome the fuel shortage, the queues at filling stations in the country will be eliminated by Thursday and the people will have the opportunity to buy fuel on demand as usual, he said.
Speaking on the soaring fuel prices in the world market, Lokuge said that more money has to be paid for fuel with the increase of fuel price in the world market mainly due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The Minister further stated that the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) will incur a loss of over Rs.80 per litre from diesel alone (at current pump prices at CPC filling stations) due to this unprecedented increase in prices.
“All CPC officials spent the whole weekend distributing fuel throughout the island. At present, there are no petrol queues at most filling stations,” the Minister added. Both Petrol 92 and 95 varieties are generally available at most fuel stations.
According to the Minister, another ship carrying 28,300 metric tons of diesel arrived yesterday. The unloading of the fuel is scheduled to commence today.
“By next Thursday, we will eliminate queues at filling stations in this country and give the public the opportunity to obtain fuel as usual,” he noted.
He said that the CPC is working to increase fuel production at the Sapugaskanda refinery, which is currently operating at a lower capacity. The CPC has been able to solve some of the issues that existed in obtaining crude oil. Under that move a Letter of Credit was opened yesterday to import 400,000 metric tons of crude oil.
He hoped as an outcome of all these measures it will be able to supply fuel to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) from the oil refinery without any issue.
As expected and scheduled, a consignment of 25,000 metric tonnes of diesel will be imported by the CEB. A programme to supply fuel directly to industrialists from Sapugaskanda will also be implemented soon.
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