• Offers from multiple prospective investors under evaluation following EOI process 
• LIOC and CPC oversee Trinco Petroleum Terminal, holding a majority stake
• New Govt. will determine commercial strategy, future operations of oil tank farm

The Government is currently evaluating offers submitted by several prospective investors for the joint development of the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm in partnership with Trinco Petroleum Terminal Ltd. (TPTL), it is learnt.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Lanka IOC PLC (LIOC) Managing Director Dipak Das revealed that the Government had carried out an Expression of Interest (EOI) process in order to identify a suitable strategic investor for the joint development of the 61 oil tanks of the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm held by TPTL. 

TPTL is a joint venture between LIOC and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).

He stated: “That process has already been carried out. They have already published an advertisement calling for investors and the process has been concluded.”  

Commenting further, Das stated that they had received several offers from prospective investors and that these offers were currently being evaluated by a committee appointed by the Government, since TPTL was a Government entity with a majority stake owned by the CPC. 

However, he declined to comment on the number of offers received for the joint development of the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm.

He further stated that the commercial strategy of TPTL in utilising the oil tank farm would be determined by the new Government. Accordingly, he revealed that Request for Proposal (RFP) documents would be issued to prospective investors only after discussions were carried out with the Government on how TPTL would function.

The Trincomalee Oil Tank Complex Development Project was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers on 4 January 2022. Accordingly, it was decided that 24 of the 99 tanks would be given to the CPC, 14 tanks to LIOC, and 61 tanks to TPTL – the latter on a 50-year lease – with the CPC having the majority stake in the subsidiary. 

Consequently, LIOC and the CPC entered into an agreement on 6 January 2022 for the development of the 61 tanks held by TPTL as a joint venture. The CPC holds a 51% stake in the company while LIOC holds a 49% stake.

The Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm, built by the British as a refuelling station during World War II, is located on 850 acres 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.