May 20, Colombo: Fuel from two petrol tankers that arrived in the country yesterday will be unloaded today and the distribution of petrol will commence soon, authorities said.

Following the inspections carried out last night, the unloading of 37,000 metric tons of petrol in one ship will commence today, the Chairman of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Sumith Wijesinghe.

The ship arrived in Sri Lanka waters on March 27 and to date has been unable to unload its fuel due to Sri Lanka not having the dollars to pay for it. The demurrage charge for Sri Lanka was over Rs. 330 million.

Also, the unloading of fuel from a petrol tanker ordered by the IOC commenced last night. It contains 38,000 metric tons of petrol. Accordingly, it is planned to commence the distribution of petrol soon.

Meanwhile, Shantha Silva, the Co-Secretary of Sri Lanka Petroleum Private Tanker Owners’ Association, which distributes fuel to filling stations, said they too had to wait in line to get fuel to transport the fuel.