Sri Lanka to tap Russia for oil

He said on Sunday that the country would be open to buying more crude from Moscow.

In this backdrop, two out of six Russian companies have responded to a call from Sri Lanka for oil.

“This was only to acknowledge the request letters sent to them by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC),” Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera revealed.

Sri Lanka is undergoing a multidimensional crisis, deepened by food insecurity, endangered livelihoods, shortage of essential medical items and increasing protection concerns.

Wickremasinghe said Sri Lanka urgently needs fuel, and is currently trying to get oil and coal from the country’s traditional suppliers in West Asia.

Two weeks ago, the country bought a 90,000 metric tonne shipment of Russian crude to restart its only refinery but he told the foreign news agency that he did not know whether more orders were in the pipeline.

“If we can get from any other sources, we will get from there. Otherwise (we) may have to go to Russia again,” he said.

Officials are negotiating with private suppliers, but Wickremesinghe said one issue they face is that “there is a lot of oil going around which can be sourced back informally to Iran or to Russia.”

Wickremesinghe on Monday told media that he start a dialogue with China to secure aid and try to admit the cash strapped nation in a donor conference to be held in Colombo.

China has rejected a request for US$ 1.5 billion currency SWAP, he said adding India had come forward to help Sri Lanka at a difficult time where the former had no formal plan to purchase essentials.

“I would like to thank Prime Minister Modi for his help. I have also had a long chat with the Indian Foreign Minister and is also working on it,” he added.

(With text by Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera/UNI/IBNS)