Not paid for diesel shipment yesterday either; Indian diesel ship expected today!

The Ministry of Energy states that the ship with 38,500 metric tons of diesel anchored in the Port of Colombo had not been unloaded due to non-payment of dues until yesterday (31) afternoon.

As of now, the ship has been anchored at the Colombo Port for four days.

While US $ 52 million was required to unload the fuel, the government had not been able to find that amount by yesterday (31) afternoon.

It is also said that 18,000 US dollars per day is charged as demurrage and accordingly, $72,000 is due as demurrage charges.

The ministry had also decided by yesterday to stop the import of fuel through direct payment.

Accordingly, diesel is to be imported only under the Indian loan scheme.

Under this agreement, the first ship carrying 38,500 metric tons of diesel is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka tonight (01).

High speed boats have also been arranged for the officials of the Petroleum Corporation to go to the ship and collect samples for testing.

Following the testing of samples, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) plans to distribute diesel to five filling stations per district throughout the 25 districts.

Two more ships of 38,500 metric tons each will arrive in Sri Lanka on April 5 and 9 under the Indian loan facility.

Accordingly, the Ministry states that Sri Lanka will receive around 80,000 metric tons of diesel before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

The Petroleum Corporation has sufficient stocks of petrol for about a week. A number of petrol stations island wide were closed yesterday (31st) due to a shortage of diesel.