Sri Lanka renews effort to expand Sapugaskanda refinery

Nov. 12, 2020

The government of Sri Lanka has approved Ceylon Petroleum Corp. to restart the process for a long-planned project to expand crude oil processing capacity of its 40,000-b/d refinery at Sapugaskanda, in the country’s Western Province.

Ceylon Petroleum Corp.'s 40,000-b/d refinery at Sapugaskanda, in Sri Lanka's Western Province.

The government of Sri Lanka has approved Ceylon Petroleum Corp. (CPC) to restart the process for a long-planned project to expand crude oil processing capacity of its 40,000-b/d refinery at Sapugaskanda, in the Indian Ocean island country’s Western Province.

In a Nov. 2 meeting, Sri Lanka’s Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal for CPC to initiate a new feasibility study to determine the scope, technical, operational, and financial feasibility of the planned 100,000-b/d expansion with a focus on several alternative proposals to enhance the refinery’s existing capacity, according to documents released by the country’s Department of Government Information (DGI).

Approval for the new feasibility study follows a previous study conducted in 2010 for the refinery’s renovation and expansion. Subsequent technological changes in the sector, however, have made it impossible to proceed on results of the earlier 2010 feasibility study, DGI said.

Currently, the Sapugaskanda refinery—the largest of the country’s two refining sites—meets only 25% of local demand for refined petroleum products, requiring the remaining 75% to be imported, according to DGI.

In its latest available report for yearend 2018, CPC said it had selected an unidentified firm to execute front-end engineering design for the proposed expansion based on the 2010 feasibility study. That project was to include replacement of the refinery’s crude distillation column, gas oil hydrotreater unit reactor, and platforming unit.

Details regarding future steps for the expansion have yet to be disclosed.