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No shortage of fuel while repairs of pipeline to refinery are underway: Premajayantha
The emergency repairs to a pipeline from an offshore point buoy mooring system at the Colombo port, carrying fuel to the oil refinery at Sapugaskanda is expected to be completed in 10 days while adequate measures have been taken to prevent fuel shortages, Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha told the Sunday Times.
He said that of the 21 pipelines one of them had been damaged and needs to be repaired.The minister said although the initial repairs will be completed in three days, it would take three more days to start pumping the fuel and another three to four days to complete operations enabling the resumption of work at the refinery.
He said currently the stocks are being sent to Muthurajawela. He said two ships, one of them carrying diesel (40,000 Mt) and petrol (35,000 Mt) have already arrived at the Colombo port.
“There shouldn’t be any fears of fuel shortages. The stocks available and those arriving will be sufficient for two months,” he said.
However trade unions claimed that the repairs may take more than two weeks.
A ship carrying 135,000 tonnes of crude oil is presently at the port awaiting the finishing of repairs to the pipeline to pump the oil.Ceylon Petroleum National Employees Union (Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya) Secretary Ananda Palitha said the failure to retain emergency stocks for at least 15 days, will lead to a shortage of fuel if there is a greater delay.
He said the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (Ceypetco) supplies fuel to 85 percent of the country’s consumers while also providing fuel to State institutions such as the Ceylon Electricity Board and the Railways Department.
“There is a stock review meeting with all parties concerned. The information presented here is then submitted to the technical review committee after which a purchasing committee calls for tenders based on the technical committee recommendation. All this is done while sufficient stocks of fuel are in storage.
If this standard procedure is followed there would not have been instances where low quality fuel and aviation fuel were issued to the market in 2011 and this year,” the JSS Secretary said.
He said there is a tendency for emergency purchases of crude oil to be made, bypassing calling of tenders and making purchases at a higher price whenever a fuel shortage occurs and in such instances, transportation costs and high insurance premia should be borne by Ceypetco.
“In July, the refinery was closed for maintenance and normal work resumed on August 10. Similarly in 2011, this refinery was closed. It has been operating since 1969 and definitely needs an upgrade,” he said.
Mr. Palitha said the refinery daily dispatches 650 metric tonnes of petrol, 1500 metric tonnes of diesel, 800 metric tonnes of kerosene and aviation fuel and 2400 metric tonnes of black fuel to the Kolonnawa fuel station, apart from producing 100 metric tonnes of LPG gas.
“By shutting down the refinery, the CPC has to import refined fuel at a higher cost and gas companies have to do the same,” he said.Unions also claim that the refinery, though made to refine Iranian Light crude oil is now refining a mixture of Arabian Light crude oil along with Miri crude oil resulting in reduced production capacity of diesel by 50 percent and petrol, kerosene, aviation fuel and other fuel products by 15 to 20 percent.
However, in a news release the CEYPETCO Refinery Division has stated that the refining of Arabian Light crude oil has not reduced the production capacity of petrol, kerosene, aviation fuel and other fuel products by 50 percent as alleged by certain quarters.
The release signed by refinery manager Neil Jayasekera said the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) had sufficient stocks of petrol, diesel, kerosene, aviation fuel and other fuel at hand despite the temporary closure of the Sapugaskanda Refinery for maintenance work.
The release said: “An oil tanker with 35,000 metric tons arrived in the country on August 29 and another tanker with 40,000 tons of diesel had also just arrived and as such the country would not face any shortage of fuel.
Meanwhile, Lanka Indian Oil Corporation has offered help to upgrade the refinery.
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