The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has been given directives to take appropriate management decisions and distribution decisions on the filling stations that fail to adhere to the guidelines, Minister of Power & Energy Kanchana Wijesekera says.
The instructions were given at a progress review meeting held this morning (Aug 13) at the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited (CPSTL) in Kolonnawa to look into the ongoing process of fuel distribution.
According to the lawmaker, the data of the past two weeks were analyzed while the quantity of fuel distributed to each filling station and the quantity of fuel dispensed through the QR code system were also taken up for discussion.
Fuel distribution to essential services, public transport vehicles, fisheries harbours, agricultural requirements, industries, and tourism was also reviewed at this meeting.
MPs Indika Anurudda, Suren Raghavan and Madhura Vithanage, who are assisting with the fuel distribution process, also attended the meeting.
A crude oil cargo of 100,000 metric tons is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka later tonight (Aug 13) and will undergo quality sampling tomorrow, Minister of Power & Energy Kanchana Wijesekera says.
Meanwhile, another crude oil cargo of 120,000 metric tons is expected to reach Colombo between August 23 and 29, he said further in a tweet.Both cargos are Russia’s Urals crude oil, the lawmaker added
Sri Lankan government on Friday (Aug 12) has gazetted the Petroleum Products (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill.
The said Bill, published under the directives of Power & Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera, allows selected specific sectors of the economy to individually import necessary fuel quantities.
Accordingly, the government will issue licences to identified parties for importing petroleum products.
On April 25, the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers was received for the proposal tabled by Minister Wijesekera in this regard.
As fuel is essential for all economic activities in the country, it is appropriate to issue licenses to selected specific sectors of the economy to import and use the fuel they require individually, the government has said.
Subsequently, the legal draftsman was advised to draft a Bill to amend the Petroleum Products (Special Provisions) Act, No. 33 of 2002, in order to make provisions to issue licence to properly identified parties.
