Sri Lanka is snapping Russian crude oil amid shortages of everything from gasoline to diesel.
The Russian grade of Siberian Light will be processed at Ceylon Petroleum Corp.’s refinery in Sapugaskanda, Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe said in a phone interview by Bloomberg as reported by the journal.
The country’s sole refinery is set to receive crude on Saturday (May 28), enabling its restart for the first time in over two months, according to its power and energy minister in an earlier tweet.
Sri Lanka is the latest Asian nation to accept Russian crude after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine prompted widespread condemnation and sanctions.
The Sapugaskanda refinery is using Siberian Light crude, said Mr Wijesinghe.
It’s one of several grades of crude that our refinery can process, alongside Abu Dhabi’s Murban and Iranian Light oil, he said. It’s still unclear how Sri Lanka will be paying for the shipment.
Sri Lanka has been facing its worst financial crisis of the country’s independent history, with shortages of everything from food to oil.
The nation has been trying to come up with cash to pay for oil that’s been sitting on tankers off its coast as its fuel crunch persists.
