Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera has decided to develop a mechanism to provide the minimum fuel required per week for consumers from July 1.
Consumers should register at their closest fuel station and will be provided their minimum fuel needs and they could obtain the remaining stock from other fuel stations.
Minister Wijesekera told the media that as a pilot project, from the first week of next month they plan to bring in a quota system, through which a person could obtain a specific amount of fuel on a weekly basis. For example, under this system, if you are eligible to receive 100 litres of fuel per week, then you could get at least 60 litres from the nearest fuel station you were registered with and according to the availability of fuel you could receive the remaining 40 litres from any other fuel station, he said.
“With this system we would know that this specific person used 100 litres of fuel. But, we don’t say that 100 litres is the limit. This limit will change according to various categories such as the vehicle type and profession of the person. This is most likely an inevitable scenario, but it’s still under discussion.
“We are also discussing alternative methods, hence nothing has been decided on as yet. The methods discussed previously has still not been completed and we call upon the public to avoid crowding at fuel stations to get registered for the purpose. There will be much preparation we need to make for this to work and it will take about 2-3 weeks,” Wijesekara added.
The People’s Bank has opened a Letter of Credit for USD 42.6 million to purchase a shipment of Octane 92 petrol.
As per reports, 300,000 barrels of petrol are expected to be purchased through this Letter of Credit.
Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekara told a media briefing on Thursday that if Letters of Credit are opened without delay, petrol can be released to the market by this weekend.