………Announces $35m for shipment of 40,000 tonnes of diesel
Like Nigeria, the government of Sri Lanka has announced that it is releasing an emergency $35 million for the shipment of 40,000 tonnes of diesel in a bid to forestall possible fuel scarcity crisis in the country.
The looming fuel scarcity crisis is said to have been caused by higher oil prices and falling country’s foreign exchange reserves.
Sri Lanka’s energy minister, Udaya Gammanpila told Reuters that his country is currently moving towards a serious fuel shortage as it does not have adequate foreign exchange to pay for fuel imports.
“We are heading for a serious fuel shortage because we do not have adequate foreign exchange to pay for fuel imports,” Gammanpila said.
This latest development in Sri Lanka has added the country to the list of nations in the global South which includes Nigeria, that are currently going through fuel scarcity crisis due to import and higher crude prices issues.
Recall that last week, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited withdrew imported methanol-blended fuel from the market.
That affected fuel supply in some states, especially Lagos State and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, thereby causing significant increase in the price of fuel, particularly in the most affected states.
NNPC Limited also asked for a supply of about 500,000 tonnes of fuel from oil trading firms in order to bridge the gaps created by the withdrawn contaminated fuel.
The Nigeria’s apex oil company also revealed that it has placed significant orders of over 2.1 billion litres of methanol-free fuel to ensure the queues in petrol stations disappear.In Sri Lanka, the high price of crude oil has affected consumers using diesel.
A litre of diesel rose from N224.9 in January 2021 to N288.1 in January 2022, a significant increase of 28.12% per litre.
Also, in a bid to further avert the looming fuel scarcity crisis in the country, the Sri Lanka-run energy corporation, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has started rational distribution of petrol products by releasing about half of the usual quantity released to pumping stations.
Sri Lanka reportedly spends $450 million monthly on fuel importation as its reserves have fallen to $2.36 billion as at the end of January 2022.
By Sunday Elom
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