Refinery closed for routine maintenance: Govt.

27 July 2012 03:02 pm Views - 3174

Responding to media allegations regarding the major shutdown of the oil refinery in Sapugaskanda, Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha today said the refinery was shut down because it was undergoing maintenance and modernization activities.

Addressing the gathering the Minister said, “Some media reports claimed that the reason behind the major shut down of the Sapugaskanda refinery was due to the breakdown of three machines in the premises while some other newspapers reported that it was due to lack of oil in the country.

However both these statements are not true, because we shut down the refinery to carry out maintenance and modernization work. It is something we do every two years. So this year the refinery was shut down from July 2 to August 5 due to this reason.” (Jayashika Padmasiri)