By Ranil Senanayake –
Dr. Ranil Senanayake
When the geography of the south of Sri Lanka is considered, one would have to be a total idiot or complete knave to propose building a, oil refinery in Hambantota. Just watch what happens when the North East monsoon sets in with the pollution from India, which like a blanket of haze cover the lowlands. Has anybody looked at the consequences of setting up an oil refinery in Hambantota? What will happen to the air quality of the southern lowlands? The Walawe River basin, which accumulates the Indian smog during the North East monsoon will completely fill up with the toxic effluents from this proposed refinery. Given such a situation, has there been any public consultation on such a proposal or are we going back to the shady underhanded dealings of our corrupt past?
The project was initiated by the Rajapaksa government who borrowed heavily from China to fund the Hambantota port project, which was seen as financially mismanaged and was later leased to a Chinese company for 99 years to help pay off the debt.
Before we consider the effects of such an enterprise on this nation, let us consider a statement by the Union of Concerned Scientists issued in September, this year (2025) and outlines the current impact of oil refineries in America. They state :
1. Refineries endanger the health of billions of people around the world, contribute significantly to inequity and seriously degrade the planet’s ecosystems.
2. They are often located near urban centers and highways, affecting fenceline communities continuously, as they run 365 days a year and occupy land which can be as large as several hundred football fields.
3. Refineries are among the most toxic industries in this country. Based on data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on toxic air and water emissions for a large number of industrial facilities across the US, refineries are the 10th most toxic industry, in a toxicity ranking list with over 200 grades. Many pollutants cause cancer, pulmonary and heart diseases, neurological, reproductive, developmental, and immunological damage, and more. Examples are benzene, hydrofluoric acid, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and many, many other toxic pollutants.
4. Refineries have the highest rate of pollution in the oil industry, including air, water and soil pollution.
5. Refining uses many risky industrial processes. Refinery workers are subject to high rates of injuries and death from accidents and malfunctions. Between 2017 and 2023 there were over 1500 injuries and seven deaths in 153 refineries across the US.
Oil refineries pollute the air through various processes, including burning fossil fuels in furnaces and boilers, and releasing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), sulfur dioxide (𝑆𝑂2), nitrogen oxides (𝑁𝑂𝑥) and particulate matter (PM2.5) from process vents, equipment leaks, storage tanks, and flares. These pollutants contribute to smog, acid rain, and serious health issues like respiratory and cardiovascular problems
We have experienced poor air quality over the Indian smog events of the last few years. Colombo has already experienced particulate matter PM10 at an annual average of 36 µg/m3. That’s 3.6 times the safe level set by the WHO. When the current air pollution level in all of Sri Lanka is considered, we have an annual average of 22 µg/m3 of PM2.5 particles which is 2.2 times the WHO safe level. This trend has to be addressed urgently. If a constant output of unregulated refinery gasses are allowed to flow inland and along the coast, it will ruin the clean, clear image of Sri Lanka and it will spell the end of the tourist industry as visibility decreases and incidences of smog and acid rain increase.
The refinery gasses will also affect the national parks through vegetation dieback and wetland pollution. The experience of Yala national park with its pristine forests and will degrade as clear days and visibility degrades. Nowhere in the world is there a refinery next to a national park, yet there is no concern for conservation, tourism or agriculture, no public consultation on such a critical matter.
Another trojan horse in this project is the Carbon footprint created by the process and from the sale of oil. Refinery carbon footprints are the responsibility of the refining companies themselves, but also extend to the countries and industries where they operate, due to emissions from stationary combustion and industrial processes. This means that all of a sudden Sri Lanka will jump from a low Carbon footprint to a very high one. As a business venture Sri Lanka gets all the pollution and environmental and social problems, the investor gets the profit. Over the past two decades, 53.9–57.0% of total GHG emissions came from the top 20 oil refining enterprises with the largest GHG emissions. Are we seeking to join the club ?
Lastly, the Blue Whale population of the south live off the continental shelf, they feed in the upwelling currents, that rise along the shelf. Currently they are impacted by the smoke from the shipping lane that was once their habitat. When they come up for a breath of air, that air is heavy with shipping smoke. The pollution of the ocean by the refinery itself as well as the increase in shipping along the shelf to deliver and take oil from a refinery in Hambantota will impact the sustainability of this population even further.
The proposal to construct an oil refinery in Hambantota is fraught with dangers. It has not entered public discourse nor has a preliminary Environmental Impact Study, been issued. Proposals that have long term national consequences must have a wide consultative process before being taken into consideration. The way this oil refinery project is discussed, evaluated in the national context and presented to the public, will inform us as to if we are moving forward as a nation responsible to its citizenry or going back to the past, old bad habits.
