Mar 18, Colombo: The Petroleum Industries Ministry of Sri Lanka has ordered mobile equipment to carry out tests on the quality of fuel imported to the country.

Petroleum Industries Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said the move to purchase mobile testing equipment was made to expedite the process of quality checks on fuel imports.

The new equipment would be able to carry out quality tests on fuel imports as soon as the shipment arrives.

The move to order the mobile testing equipment has come after a fuel stock ordered by the Lanka India Oil Company (LIOC) was found to have been contaminated during shipment and be of substandard quality.

Trade unions affiliated to the petroleum sector have said that the Petroleum Ministry had allowed the ship with the fuel consignment to proceed to the Trincomalee harbor, without detaining it in Colombo, even though the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation's (CPC's) Kolonnawa laboratory tests confirmed that the fuel were contaminated.