Sri Lanka may start buying oil from Russia amid a critical fuel shortage and an unprecedented economic crisis, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in an interview with the AP news agency, published on Sunday.
According to Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka would first look to other sources to get the much-needed fuel, for instance, to its major suppliers in the Middle East.
“Certainly, we are looking at the Gulf as our main supply… If we can get [oil] from any other sources, we will get from there. Otherwise, we may have to go to Russia again,” he stated.
According to the country’s energy minister, last month Sri Lanka already bought a 90,000-metric-ton shipment of Russian crude to restart its oil refinery. While Wickremesinghe did not comment on this purchase, and said he had no information about whether more orders were agreed upon, he stressed that his country needs fuel desperately and immediately.