Lanka in talks with India to reacquire Trincomalee oil tanks leased to IOC

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 29

Sri Lanka is nearing completion of talks with India to reacquire 99 World War II-era oil storage tanks leased to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) at Trincomalee on the country’s east coast, Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said on Wednesday.

Gammanpila had earlier said, “On my instructions, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation has already formed a new entity dedicated to handle the oil tanks once these are reacquired. Trinco Petroleum Terminal Limited has been already set up.”

The IOC has lease of 99 tanks for 35 years in lieu of annual payment of $1 lakh.

In October, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla visited the World War II-era oil-storage facility in the strategically important port district of Trincomalee, which has been a key bilateral economic partnership link for decades.

The talks on the oil tanks are underway even as the Sri Lankan government negotiates a $500-million credit line from India to help it tide over the current economic crises.