The Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery has been temporarily closed down due to a shortage of crude oil.

This is the first time that the Sapugaskanda oil refinery has been closed due to a shortage of crude oil.

Udaya Gammanpila, Minister of Energy and Sumith Wijesinghe, Chairman of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation are expected to hold a media briefing tomorrow to make an official statement on the matter.

President of the Petroleum General Employees Union Ashoka Ranwala stated that the reason for the closure of the refinery was the lack of crude oil and the Sapugaskanda refinery had to be closed until the arrival of a ship carrying crude oil during the third week of December.

It is learned that 90,000 MTs of crude oil from the crude oil tanker, which will arrive in December, will be sufficient for only 15 days and another will only be available in mid-January.