President assures long-term solutions for gas storage issue

A sudden rise in gas demand has created a crisis in Sri Lanka, according to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. During a Parliament session today (03), he addressed worries about the gas shortage, highlighting issues with storage capacity. The President pointed out that Sri Lanka can only store gas for about a week at most. He reassured everyone that the chances of a future gas and fuel crisis are very low. A ship carrying 100,000 new gas cylinders is expected to reach the country by March 12. President Dissanayake explained, “We are dealing with a specific issue, which is the gas situation. Our total storage capacity is 8,000 metric tons. For the Litro company, our daily gas needs range from 1,000 to 1,200 metric tons. At best, we can hold gas for only about a week. We cannot wait until we run out before we import more. Every two days, we bring in around 8,000 metric tons to the port. This is the current reality. We need to change this. Right now, there is a ship in the Maldives, and smaller boats are taking 8,000 metric tons at a time from that ship. This is how things are.” He added, “Litro Gas has placed an order for 100,000 new cylinders, and the ship will arrive on the 12th. There has also been a lack of cylinders. People who used yellow cylinders had to switch to blue ones, but there weren’t enough tanks available. This is part of the problem. While people are expressing concerns about a gas shortage, it’s important to understand the situation. If we only have storage for 8,000 metric tons and can supply 1,000–1,200 metric tons daily to Litro, but demand suddenly jumps to 1,800 metric tons per day, then we would run out of supplies in less than five days, leading to a potential crisis. However, we can find solutions to handle such a scenario.”