The President’s Media Division (PMD) reported that Sinopec Fuel Oil Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. and its parent company in China and Singapore recently signed a contract agreement at the Presidential Secretariat for a long-term agreement on the importation, storage, distribution, and sale of petroleum products in Sri Lanka.
A license to enter Sri Lanka’s petroleum retail sector was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in March for Sinopec of China, United Petroleum of Australia, and RM Parks of the United States, working together with Shell plc, a global oil and gas firm.
As a result, they are given a license to import, store, distribute, and sell petroleum products in Sri Lanka for a period of 20 years.
The proposal to allow businesses from countries that produce oil to enter Sri Lanka’s retail fuel sales industry was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers in June 2022.
The Ministerial Consultative Committee on Power and Energy adopted the Petroleum Products (Special Provisions) Bill in October of that same year, opening the door for new suppliers to become importers, wholesalers, and retail operators for petroleum products.
Later on April 26, a delegation from Sinopec arrived in Sri Lanka to finalize the agreements and begin operations for retail fuel sales. Kanchana Wijesekera, the minister of power and energy, and the delegation of officials and technical experts from the Chinese energy giant discussed the timeline, the terms of the relevant agreements, and other issues.
It was determined that the contracts would be signed in the middle of May and that operations would start 45 days later.
