By Himal Kotelawala
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka will sign fuel retail agreements with China’s state-owned petroleum corporation Sinopec mid-May with operations to commence 45 days thence, Power & Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said.
Wijesekara tweeted Wednesday (26) that he met a Sinopec team that arrived in the island the previous day to finalize the agreements.
Sinopec is one of several overseas companies that Sri Lanka plans to lease 150 of its fuel filling stations to. Cabinet approval for this proposal was granted last month.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s administration has decided to sell government stakes in seven key state-owned enterprises (SOEs) including loss-making fuel retailer Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). Restructuring SOEs has been on high on the agenda of the Wickremesinghe government as part of its reform plans consequent to finalizing an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a 2.9 billion US dollar extended fund facility.
Delegations from China Merchants Group and Sinopec groups were previously in Sri Lanka in March looking for further investments in the island. The Beijing-based company was already involved in bunkering operations in Hambantota.
In a subsequent meeting with President Wickremesinghe on March 13, Sinopec pledged to invest in the southern district.
Political analysts saw the move as part of Chinese efforts to consolidate investments in Sri Lanka’s ports and energy sector amid security concerns raised by the island nation’s immediate neighbour India and the United States.
Meanwhile a date in mid-May has been set to sign agreements with the RM Parks-Shell to commence operations by June first week.
“From the observations made by RM Parks-Shell technical officials that visited CPSTL tank farm last week, offered to upgrade CPSTL berthing facilities to be in line with international standards & safety requirements” Wijesekara said.
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