Indians bid for Trincomalee oil storage facility

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 April 2002, 18:53 GMT]
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has submitted a bid to acquire oil storage facilities at Chinabay in the eastern port town of Trincomalee, Mr.Arjun Mahendran, Chairman of the Sri Lanka's Board of Investment (BoI) said Friday. The Public Enterprises Reform Commission (PERC) is now in the process of structuring the deal, he added.

The Indian High Commissioner with the Operation Manager of the Ceylon Petroleum Coporation at the Oil Tank Farm in Trincomalee, 2 April 2002. (Photo: TamilNet)

"The BoI Chairman Mr. Mahendran said that no decision has been taken regarding the number of oil tanks expected to be leased out to the IOC.

The United Kingdom built the oil storage facility at Chinabay. During the Second World War, the UK government supplied oil storage facility to its eastern naval fleet anchored at the Trincomalee harbour.

The Indian Oil Corporation is fully owned by the Indian government and enjoys monopoly in the Indian oil market.

The Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Mr.Gopalkrishna Gandhi, earlier this month inspected the Chinabay oil tank farm. Now the IOC has submitted its bid to lease out some of the 101 oil tanks.

Related Articles:
02.04.02   Indian HC visits Trincomalee oil tank farm