Fourteen oil tanks currently managed by the Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC) at the Trincomalee Oil Tank farms will be further leased out to the LIOC, Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila announced today.
Addressing the media, he said 14 oil tanks will be leased to the LIOC for another 50 years.
The current lease for the 14 tanks to LIOC ends in 2038 and with the extension the LIOC will be in charge of the said oil tanks until 2088.
He further revealed that, meanwhile, 61 tanks will be jointly managed by the newly established Trinco Petroleum Terminals Ltd.
Under the new company, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) will have 51% of the shares and LIOC will have 49% shares.
Minister Gammanpil went on to say that under the new arrangements, 24 of the oil tanks in Trincomalee will be managed by the CPC, 14 by the LIOC, and 61 by the Trinco Petroleum Terminals Ltd.
On Wednesday (29), the Minister announced that the CPC is to form a new company called “Trinco Petroleum Terminals LTD” to develop the Trincomalee Oil Tank farm.
At the time, Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila said that the “Trinco Petroleum Terminals LTD” is a subsidiary of the CPC.
He further said the agreement pertaining to the new company is to be signed within a month with the relevant parties.
Earlier in October, Minister Gammanpila told Parliament that Sri Lanka can only develop its 100 oil tanks in Trincomalee with Indian support as per the Indo-Lanka accord signed in 1987.
Gammanpila revealed that even after a 35-year lease deal with the state-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) ends in 2038, Sri Lanka will still have to develop the tanks with India and India only. (NewsWire)