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India keen to jointly develop Trinco tanks

18 Feb 2021

Responding to the move to jointly develop the Upper Oil Tank Farms in Trincomalee, the Indian High Commission said that they are looking forward to continuing the productive engagement with Sri Lanka in this regard. A spokesperson from the High Commission said that India and Sri Lanka have identified energy partnership as one of the priority dimensions of their co-operation. “India is committed to working together with Sri Lanka for the island’s energy security. In this context, consultations and discussions have been undertaken to promote mutually beneficial co-operation for the development and operation of the Upper Oil Tank Farms in Trincomalee. We look forward to continuing our productive engagement with Sri Lanka in this regard,” they said. Yesterday (17), Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila announced that the Sri Lankan Government will re-acquire the 99 oil storage tanks leased to Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC) in Trincomalee after talks with Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay on this issue concluded on Sunday (14). "I am happy to state that the Indian High Commissioner was very flexible at the talks. He ignored the conditions mentioned in the agreement signed in 2017 in order to be helpful to us," Gammanpila said. "He was flexible to agree to all our conditions.” However, he added that as a majority of ships which sail around Trincomalee are from India, Indian assistance would still be required. “So we need India's co-operation to win their market." The Trincomalee oil tanks, built by the British, had never been used to its full capacity after Independence in 1948. The farm initially had 101 tanks built with steel one inch think. Each tank could store 12,000 tonnes of fuel, bringing the total capacity of the tanks to 1.2 million. After the British left the country, only 15 tanks were used by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) while the rest was taken over by the surrounding wilderness. Out of the 101 tanks, one was destroyed in an Air Force plane crash in the 1960s. In 2003, Sri Lanka leased the Trincomalee oil tanks to LIOC for 30 years, which expires in 2033.  


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