The Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery may have to be closed again given the current situation, warned Ananda Palitha, a trade union leader of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, speaking to a briefing held in the Opposition Leader’s Office yesterday (19).
“As far as we know, a debt of US$500 million has been approved allowing us to obtain oil from India. But we only have to borrow from India. For the moment we only have the confidence that we will be given US$500 million. A clear crisis has now entered the country. I say with responsibility that if the US$500 million is the liability, the Refinery may have to be closed. There is no oil ship after the last one, even to this day. The Minister is looking for crude oil ships in Sri Lankan Rupees. We have to ask whether the Minister has lost his mind!” he said.