Sri Lanka aims to double its crude oil tank capacity by 2020 while a tripartite LNG terminal and power plant agreement would be signed with India and Japan by mid-2020.
The Minister of Transportation, Power and Energy, Mahinda Amaraweera, disclosed this in a statement on Monday in Colombo.
The minister said the newly appointed government, headed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was planning for the current two-week fuel storage capacity to be increased to four weeks by 2020.
This, he said, was to ensure non-shortage of oil following a severe oil crisis that hit the island country in 2017.
While the previous government planned to expand fuel storage tanks at Kolonnawa Terminal in the outskirts of the capital, the new government would evaluate the establishment of new tanks in Trincomalee in the east currently on lease to India.
A new oil distribution pipeline will also be constructed from Colombo Port.
Sri Lanka faced a massive oil shortage in Nov. 2017, with the island country’s transport sector coming to a standstill amid severe petrol shortage.
Petrol consumption in Sri Lanka had almost doubled since the ethnic war ended in 2009, with demand increasing about even percent annually.
Source: Daily Trust
-Agencies
