Sri Lanka has temporarily shut its only oil refinery as part of efforts to manage dwindling foreign exchange reserves, the energy minister said on Tuesday, triggering long queues at petrol stations. The 51-year old Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery, which has a capacity of 50,000 barrels per day, was closed on Monday, the minister, Udaya Gammanpila, said at the weekly Cabinet briefing. “The refinery will be closed for about 50 days. Sri Lanka has very limited foreign exchange reserves at the moment and we need it more for essentials like food and medicine,” he said. “The long lines at fuel stations will stop in a couple of days when the public realises there is no need to panic.” Gammanpila said fuel imports would resume once the government was able to raise sufficient dollars but did not give details of a timeline. Faced with rising inflation and […]