Rumour sparks panic buying for petrol

Our staff photographer Ruwan De Silva captured long queues for petrol in Colombo sheds last night.

Long queues were seen at filling stations in Colombo yesterday evening with reports of a fuel shortage spreading.

However,CEYPETCO denied these reports, stating that fuel will be supplied uninterruptedly. Many consumers panicked as rumours spread and lined up vehicles at filling stations.

A petrol shortage was reported in some filling stations as the demand shot up suddenly, but there was no shortage of diesel.

Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) Trade Union Collective Convener D. J. Rajakaruna observed it was an artificially created shortage. Speaking to the Daily News yesterday, he said the fuel was not distributed yesterday as it was a Poya holiday, but the distribution will continue today.

“A shipment of petrol imported by the Indian Oil Company (IOC) was rejected recently as it was not up to the required standards and another shipment ordered for the CPC has been delayed by several days.There are doubts as to why this delay occured. Then there came a rumour that the CPC TUs have commenced a strike, which is not true,” Rajakaruna said while also emphasising the need to develop the storage capacity of CPC to have sufficient buffer stocks.

The Petroleum Ministry said a fuel shipment will arrive on Monday.

 

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