Cash-strapped Sri Lanka gets Russian oil to ease shortages | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka gets Russian oil to ease shortages | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

The state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) refinery was shuttered in March in the wake of Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange crunch, which left the government unable to finance crude imports. The Russian crude delivery had been waiting offshore of the capital Colombo’s port for over a month as the country was unable to raise $75 million to pay for it, energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera said. Colombo is also in talks with Moscow to arrange direct supplies of crude, coal, diesel and petrol despite US-led sanctions on Russian banks and a diplomatic outcry over Russia’s military operation in Ukraine. “I have made an official request to the Russian ambassador for direct supplies of Russian oil,” Wijesekera told reporters in Colombo. “Crude alone will not fulfil our requirement, we need other refined (petroleum) products as well.” Around 90,000 tonnes of Siberian light crude will be sent to Sri Lanka’s refinery after the shipment was acquired on credit from Dubai-based intermediary Coral Energy. Wijesekera said Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) was already in arrears of $735 million to suppliers and no one came forward to even bid for its oil tenders. He added that the Siberian grade was not an ideal match for the refinery,