Diesel shipments expected to partly ease fuel shortage

Sri Lanka is due to receive two diesel shipments on Monday and another later this week, which is expected to partly ease the fuel shortage, Energy Ministry Secretary K.D.R Olga said.

“A 30,000 tonne shipment of furnace fuel has also docked and will be offloaded from tomorrow to supply thermal power plants,” Olga was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Meanwhile nearly 1,000 bakeries have closed in Sri Lanka due to the severe shortage of cooking gas, an industry association said on Monday.

The cooking gas shortage has almost doubled bread prices to about 150 rupees in some urban areas, N.K. Jayawardena, chairman of the Ceylon Bakery Owners Association, said.

“If this situation lasts for one more week, 90% of bakeries will have to close. Many bakers have taken out loans, they will not be able to repay them,” said Jayawardena, whose association, the largest in the sector in the country, represents some 7,000 members. 

“The government must find a solution urgently,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

A senior official at Laugfs Gas, one of Sri Lanka’s two gas suppliers, said imports were stalled because banks were declining to open letters of credit. The company typically sources about 15,000 tonnes of gas from Qatar and Oman a month worth $50 million.

“We usually issue 40,000-50,000 cylinders to retailers per month but that has now reduced to less than 2,000. Since last Friday no supplies have been released,” the official, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters

--Agencies