brand logo

No more petrol sheds for LIOC

18 Sep 2022

 
  • Energy Ministry has no intention of allowing LIOC open more stations
  • Says approval to open 50 new stations in August already granted
  • Opportunities to be given only to new players
  By Shenal Fernando   The Ministry of Power and Energy does not intend to grant approval to Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) to open up any additional fuel stations following the July 2022 call for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from companies in petroleum-producing countries to engage in Sri Lanka’s petroleum sector, it is learnt.  Speaking to The Sunday Morning, Ministry of Power and Energy Secretary M.P.D.U.K. Mapa Pathirana stated that since the Ministry had already granted permission to LIOC to open up 50 new filling stations in August 2022, it therefore did not intend to grant approval to LIOC to open additional fuel stations, considering that the Ministry had called for EOIs from interested foreign companies. “Even though they have requested more fuel stations, we are unable to grant them approval since we have already started the process to call for EOIs from foreign petroleum companies. LIOC is not part of the 24 companies that have submitted proposals for the EOI,” he explained. Speaking to The Sunday Morning, LIOC Managing Director Manoj Gupta stated that the company had requested approval from the Ministry to open up around 200 more fuel stations in the country. However, LIOC is yet to receive a response from the Ministry of Power and Energy in this regard. Commenting on the Ministry’s call for EOIs from foreign petroleum companies, Gupta stated: “While I cannot comment on the reasons why, I can confirm that the LIOC has not applied.” According to Mapa Pathirana, the proposals received from the 24 foreign companies originating from 10 different countries are at present being evaluated by the tender boards, which consist of a technical evaluation committee and a negotiation committee. “Once the proposals have been evaluated, the genuine companies that have submitted favourable proposals which meet our criteria will be shortlisted and a Request for Proposals (RFP) document will be sent to them. The final selection will be made based on the proposals submitted by such shortlisted companies,” he explained.     In August 2022, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera stated that 24 companies from 10 countries – the UAE, Saudi Arabia, US, China, India, Russia, UK, Malaysia, Norway, and the Philippines – had submitted EOIs to engage in Sri Lanka’s petroleum sector. At the time of calling for EOIs, Minister Wijesekera announced that they were looking to give around 200-400 fuel stations from the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s (CPC) current stock of 1,190 fuel stations on a long-term lease basis to up to four foreign companies.  


More News..