• 10 tanks to be developed after health assessment: LIOC
• Confirms bid evaluation completed, assessment to be done within 1.5 months
• Notes Timber Corp. in process of removing shrubs, grass around tanks

The Trinco Petroleum Terminal (Pvt) Ltd. (TPTL) has selected Bureau Veritas in Sri Lanka by way of a tender to carry out a health assessment of 10 tanks in the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm in China Bay to be redeveloped under phase 1.

TPTL is Lanka Indian Oil Company’s (LIOC’s) Joint Venture (JV) with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) for the redevelopment of 61 tanks of the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm. 

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, LIOC Managing Director Manoj Gupta revealed that phase 1 of the project involved the initial redevelopment of 10 tanks and that a tender had been floated to select a company to carry out the assessment of the selected 10 tanks.

Elaborating further, he stated: “We have already finished evaluation of the bids received and we have selected a party to carry out the health assessment of the 10 tanks. The party selected was Bureau Veritas, which is a Sri Lankan company. I am sure that the complete assessment of the health of the tanks will be done within a month and a half. We should have the complete health assessment done by February 2023.”  

He revealed that while they had removed the shrubs and grass at the site, they had only completed site clearance of four tanks. The State Timber Corporation was still in the process of cutting down large trees involving the six remaining tanks, he noted, adding that he expected site clearance to be fully completed by February 2023.  

“We have awarded the work order for carrying out the detailed specificity report to PricewaterhouseCoopers India. It is currently doing the relevant work, collecting the required data, and undertaking the required studies. We expect this to take another two months and hopefully we will officially receive the specificity report by February 2023. We can complete the business plan upon receipt of the report,” he said. 

The Trincomalee Oil Tank Complex Development Project was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on 4 January. Accordingly, it was decided that 24 of the 99 tanks would be given to the CPC, 14 tanks to the LIOC, and 61 tanks to the TPTL – the latter on a 50-year lease, with CPC having the majority stake in the subsidiary. 

Consequently, LIOC and CPC entered into an agreement on 6 January 2022 for the joint development of the 61 tanks held by Trinco Petroleum Terminal as a JV. CPC holds a 51% stake in the company while LIOC holds a 99% stake.

The Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm, built by the British as a refuelling station during World War II, is located on 850 acres of land and originally contained 101 tanks, each with the capacity to hold 12,100 MT of oil. 

Out of the original 101 tanks, two were destroyed in a kamikaze attack during a Japanese air raid on Trincomalee on 9 April 1942 and when a Royal Ceylon Air Force plane crashed in the early 1960s.