A subsidiary has been formed under the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) to develop the Trincomalee oil tank farm, Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said.
Subsidiary formed under CPC to develop Trinco oil tank farm, the Minister said he has instructed the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) to form the new subsidiary company, Trinco Petroleum Terminal Ltd., for the purpose.
Gammanpila said the subsidiary has been named the Trinco Petroleum Terminal Ltd.Sri Lanka is expected to sign the controversial Trincomalee oil tank farm deal with India in a month.
“We have been negotiating this for 16 months, and we are now very close to finalising the terms of the Trincomalee project with India.
Government hopes to sign the agreement in a month,” Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila The Minister said he has instructed the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) to form the new subsidiary company, Trinco Petroleum Terminal Ltd., for the purpose.
The move follows President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s nod to setting up the special purpose vehicle ahead of the next Cabinet meeting.
“We don’t have a Cabinet meeting this week because of the holidays. We will get the decision ratified in the next one,” Gammanpila said.
If the deal is finalised and signed next month, it will not only mark the culmination of India’s 16-month-long negotiation with the ruling Rajapaksa administration but will also give shape to a proposal envisaged 35 years ago, in the Indo-Lanka Accord.
Sri Lanka hopes to sign a long-dragging deal with India in January 2022 to jointly develop oil tank farms in the Eastern district of Trincomalee
The move follows President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s nod to setting up the special purpose vehicle ahead of the next Cabinet meeting.
“Even after a 35-year lease deal with the state-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) ends in 2038, the island nation will still have to develop the tanks with India and India only, Gammanpila said on October 04.
Responding to speculation that Sri Lanka was going to sell all the oil tanks to India, the minister said there was nothing to be given.
“There is not even a modicum of truth about what is reported everywhere,” he said.
“There is no truth to the reports that the Indian foreign secretary met me or that I went with him in a helicopter.
In fact, the Indian foreign secretary hasn’t even asked for an appointment.”
The oil tank farm was built by the British during World War II as a refueling station, located in ‘China Bay’ in close proximity to the Internationally coveted deep water natural harbour oif Trincomalee.
“Some including the political opposition are suggesting that India’s economic assistance is tied to the Trincomalee deal.
CPC began negotiating this agreement well before the economic assistance was sought,” insisting “there is no connection whatsoever,” he added.
