The Government will seek US $ 2.5 billion through another loan to set up a new oil refinery in Sri Lanka, Petroleum Industries Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa has said. “This will help us save monies spent on imported refined fuel,” he told the Sunday Times. He said that the only refinery at Sapugaskanda is not suitable to refine some varieties of crude oil. Besides that, its output has dropped since crude procurement from Iran were pruned down after sanctions were imposed by the United States.
Yapa has said international companies in China, South Korea, Italy, Turkey and United States are among the countries with which the Government was now exploring the possibility of setting up a refinery. “We are looking at a facility where we could refine about 100,00 barrels per day and it should have the facility to refine oil products from over 20 countries,” he said.
