05-29-2022, 09:34 AM
![[Image: 20220502-Sri_Lanka_fuel_tanker_protest_f...FP_pic.jpg]](https://media.thevibes.com/images/uploads/covers/_large/20220502-Sri_Lanka_fuel_tanker_protest_fuel_shortage-AFP_pic.jpg)
COLOMBO – Cash-strapped Sri Lanka took delivery yesterday of Russian oil – which could soon be subject to a European embargo – to restart operations at the country’s only refinery, the energy minister said.
The island nation is suffering its worst economic meltdown since independence, with shortages of fuel and other essentials making life miserable for its 22 million people.
The state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation refinery was shuttered in March following Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange crunch, which left the government unable to finance imports, including crude.
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 US$75 million (RM328.4 million) to pay for it, energy minister Kanchana Wijesekera said.
- More -