Hon. Kumara Jayakody - Minister of Energy
Minister Kumara Jayakody said the Government has secured fuel stocks, tenders, and orders sufficient until August despite global oil price and logistics pressures linked to instability affecting supply routes. He stated that electricity cuts have been avoided so far, though load shedding may be necessary if conditions worsen, with priority given to public relief and keeping industry operating. He added that Sri Lanka currently has only about 22 days of storage capacity and is beginning projects to expand this to 45 days, while emphasizing that no special fuel quotas are given to MPs or Ministers.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, if we had foreseen Iran’s situation since the 1980s, we would have implemented QR codes then. For decades, Iran-Iraq issues impeded oil flows. We have already filled our tanks and placed tenders and orders adequate till August, planning ahead as a responsible government and institutions. Many countries — even producers — face price and logistics spikes. Yet we have managed without cutting power for even an hour so far, though at cost. If necessary we may have to shed load, but our priority is to provide relief and keep industry running. We cannot plan months ahead in a war; even the US President’s four-week horizon shows the uncertainty. If we had storage for more than 22 days, we would stock more; we are now starting projects to build tanks to hold 45 days of stocks.
¶ 02 No one gets special quotas — not MPs or Ministers. We treat everyone equally. We are working for the people.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 17 March 2026 ·No. 23387 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: Hon. Kumara Jayakody - Minister of Energy. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 17 March 2026. No. 23387. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/3030