Sri Lanka Strikes Deal to Import Russian Crude Amid Energy Crisis

(MENAFN) Sri Lanka will begin importing crude oil from Russia after reaching an agreement with Moscow, the country’s transport minister, Bimal Rathnayake, said, as the ongoing Middle East conflict disrupts energy supplies.

Rathnayake told reports that “energy is our priority today,” noting that the US-Israeli war on Iran has caused interruptions in the nation’s fuel imports.

“Russia’s deputy energy minister [Andrey Rudenko] visited Sri Lanka a few days ago. The deputy foreign minister has also visited Sri Lanka. They reached an agreement on oil supplies to the country,” Rathnayake said. He added that the first shipments are expected in mid-April.

“Technical work is currently underway at the company level, and financial issues are being discussed, how to conduct transactions. But at the political level, almost everything has been done,” he noted.

Rathnayake emphasized that a reliable “logistic system” is necessary for crude imports, despite Sri Lanka exporting tea to Russia. A senior Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (Ceypetco) official said the island has only two ports capable of unloading fuel and that Ceypetco is the nation’s sole refiner. Fuel shipments for April and May are already secured, with slight price reductions expected in June.

Currently, most of Sri Lanka’s crude comes from the UAE, while refined petroleum products are imported from India and Singapore.

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