The Sapugaskanda Refinery (also referred to as Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery) is the single largest

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. The refinery was built by

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

under the guidance of the

Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, commonly known as CEYPETCO (CPC), is a Sri Lankan oil and gas company. Established in 1962 and wholly owned by the Government of Sri Lanka. It is largest oil company in the Sri Lanka. It was formed in 1961 by national ...

in August 1969, initially designed to process per stream day of

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

, and Arabian

light crude oil Light crude oil is liquid petroleum that has a low density and flows freely at room temperature. It has a low viscosity, low specific gravity and high API gravity due to the presence of a high proportion of light hydrocarbon fractions. It generally ...

. (Medium

sour crude oil Sour crude oil is crude oil containing a high amount of the impurity sulfur. It is common to find crude oil containing some impurities. When the total sulfur level in the oil is more than 0.5% (by weight), the oil is called "sour". The impurities n ...

) It was commissioned on 12 October 1969. The facility, which covers an area of , currently has a capacity of per stream day. As with most refineries, the Sapugaskanda Refinery has an in-house utilities section which supplies electricity, water, steam, instrument air, and other necessities for operations. In total, 65 storage tanks are located at the premises for storage of crude oil, finished, and other products, five of which has a capacity of . A further four crude oil tanks located in the separate Orugodawatta tank farm.

History

* The initial survey for the refinery was conducted in 1963. * On 9 May 1967, the foundation stone was laid for the refinery. Construction was handled by

Snamprogetti Saipem S.p.A. (Società Anonima Italiana Perforazioni E Montaggi lit. ''Drilling and Assembly Italian Public Limited Company'') is an Italian multinational oilfield services company and one of the largest in the world. Until 2016 it was a subsid ...

, while the facility supervision was handled by

UOP LLC Honeywell UOP, formerly known as UOP LLC or Universal Oil Products, is an American multi-national company developing and delivering technology to the petroleum refining, gas processing, petrochemical production, and major manufacturing industries. ...

. * On 12 October 1969, the refinery was commissioned. * In 1971, the

naphtha Naphtha ( or ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Mixtures labelled ''naphtha'' have been produced from natural gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and the distillation of coal tar and peat. In different industries and regions ''n ...

merox unit was modified to commence production of

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

(LNG), while SBPS production was also commenced with existing infrastructure. The crude distiller was also modified to increase capacity from per stream day during this period. * In 1981, a

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

merox was installed to process A-1

jet fuel Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial a ...

, while the energy-intensive Kerosene unifiner was decommissioned. * In 1992, the crude distiller unit was again modified to support far Eastern crude oils such as

Miri ) , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivision_type2 = Division , subdivision_name2 ...

light crude oil, and Naphtha unifiner capacity was increased to 1100 tonne per day. * In 1999, platformer unit was modified to increase capacity to 650

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...

per day, to meet increasing

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

demand, and to phase out

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

in gasoline. * In 2003, the kerosene unifiner was modified to process

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engin ...

, and the existing gas oil unifiner was rehabilitated to meet the

sulphur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...

specification of 0.3 %wt in diesel. * On 19 February 2018, the entire facility was shutdown for 35 days due to a planned refurbishment project. 1,200 engineers and mechanics handled the 24×7 maintenance covering the processing units, utilities, and tank farm. The production shortage during the period was covered by importing the requirements by the

Power stations

Three oil-fired power stations are built at the vicinity of the refinery for ease of fuel logistics: #

Sapugaskanda Power Station The Sapugaskanda is a power station located in Sapugaskanda, adjacent to the Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery, in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. The power station consists of twelve generating units, supplied by MAN, and Siemens. Four of the un ...

(160 MW) - Owned by the

Ceylon Electricity Board The Ceylon Electricity Board - CEB ( si, ලංකා විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලය - ලංවිම, Lankā Vidulibala Mandalaya - Lanwima; ta, இலங்கை மின்சார சபை - இமிச), is the largest el ...

Lakdhanavi Power Station The Lakdhanavi Power Station (also sometimes referred to as the Lakdhanavi Sapugaskanda Power Station) is a thermal power station built in Sapugaskanda, Sri Lanka. Operated by , it is one of three power stations in the Sapugaskanda region, the ...

(24 MW) - Owned by Lakdhanavi (Private) Limited #

Asia Power Sapugaskanda Power Station The Asia Power Sapugaskanda Power Station (also sometimes referred to as Asia Power Station) is a thermal power station in Sapugaskanda, Sri Lanka. Planning for the fuel oil-run power station dated back to 1994, when the Ceylon Electricity Boar ...

(51 MW) - Owned by Asia Power (Private) Limited

References

{{Electricity in Sri Lanka Oil refineries in Sri Lanka Buildings and structures in Gampaha District Buildings and structures completed in 1969 1969 establishments in Ceylon

History

Power stations

See also

References