Colombo: Sri Lanka will hold talks with the Indian Oil Corporation on Tuesday as part of a desperate measure to tackle the current fuel and energy crisis, Power Minister Gamini Lokugey said on Monday.
Lokuge said that talks would be held with the local unit of Indian Oil Corporation to resolve the fuel crisis.
Lanka IOC, a Sri Lankan subsidiary of India’s leading oil company Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), has been in operation in Sri Lanka since 2002.
“I have asked my officials to start talks with LIOC tomorrow (Tuesday), if need be, I will join them,” the power minister said.
He said that continuous power supply can be ensured till January 22. Earlier he had said that the supply could be ensured by January 18.
Energy Minister Uday Gammanapila had said that there is no point in discussing with the power ministry on the uninterrupted supply of diesel and furnace oil required for power generation.
“They should get their own dollars to pay for the supplies and order their needs well in advance,” Gammanapila said.
He said the country’s national carrier, Sri Lankan Airlines, had found dollars on its own to pay for fuel supplies.
Sri Lanka is currently facing a severe foreign exchange crisis with depleting reserves.
The country is facing a shortage of almost all essential commodities due to paucity of dollars to pay for the imports.
Additionally, power cuts are made during peak hours as the state power unit is unable to obtain fuel to run the turbines.
The state fuel unit has stopped supplying oil as the electricity board has huge unpaid bills. The sole refinery was recently shut down because it was unable to pay dollars for crude imports.
Earlier this week, the Indian government announced a $1 billion aid package to Sri Lanka, among other balance of payments support.
Billion dollar credit line facility to be used to avert food crisis while allowing import of goods and medicines. Additionally, there will be USD 500 million to import fuel from India. PTI Core CPS AKJ CPS
(This story has been published as part of an auto-generated Syndicate wire feed. Other than the title, no edits have been made to the copy by ABP Live.)
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