Despite the visit of the Indian Foreign Secretary S.Jaishankar accompanied by a high-level team from the Indian Oil Corporation over the weekend, differences between the Lanka IOC (LIOC) and the government of Sri Lanka over the Trincomalee oil storage tanks persist, the New Indian Express reported.
Reliable sources said that the basic “technical and legal issues” which have been preventing the full use of the giant oil tanks remain unresolved though the tanks were handed over to the LIOC, a subsidiary of IOC ,way back in 2002 for joint development with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).
Because of the war in North-East Sri Lanka, LIOC and CPC could not develop the tanks as desired though the LIOC, PRIMA and the Sri Lanka Air Force were using some. The LIOC had renovated 15 of the 99 tanks at a cost of US$ 15 million and was ready to invest US$ 17 more for further refurbishment.
-NIE
-Agencies
