Sub-standard fuels have been blamed for damaging Sri Lankan cars in the past, with the country refusing payment for a 20,000 tonne shipment of gasoline that had been supplied to them by the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) in July 2011 due to its low quality.
This time Sri Lanka has returned a tanker carrying 40,000 tonnes of diesel from ENOC after they decided that it did not meet pre-agreed specifications.
Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, the Sri Lankan Oil Minister, said that the Dubai-based ENOC had now been removed from the country's approved supplier list, explaining that "the diesel supplied was not up to the required specifications… So we returned the cargo and blacklisted the supplier."
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Susantha Silva, the managing director of state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, reassured that there would be no fuel scarcity resulting from the decision to stop imports from ENOC, and that instead they "will buy another emergency cargo. The country is not running dry and we have enough."
After Western sanctions against Iran restricted Sri Lanka's main source of crude imports that supplied its 50,000 barrel a day refinery, the country has had to import more refined products.
By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com
Joao is a writer for Oilprice.com More