Minister of Power & Energy Kanchana Wijesekera on Thursday (May 04) met with the first two groups of owners and the management of filling stations that are to be made available to new suppliers.

Last month, the Cabinet of Ministers green-lighted a proposal to allow three foreign oil companies to commence their fuel distribution operations in Sri Lanka.

Thereby, retail licenses will be granted to China-based Sinopec, Australia-based United Petroleum and US-based RM Parks Inc., in collaboration with London-based Shell PLC.

Taking to Twitter, Wijesekera said a total of 450 dealer-operated filling stations have been categorized into three separate groups of 150 each in order to make them available for the new foreign fuel service operators. 

Accordingly, the minister met with two of these groups at the Foundation Institute on Thursday, to brief them and to discuss their dealership allocation to the new suppliers, the categorizing mechanism, new agreements, pricing formulas, benefits of new suppliers, dealer margins, the government policy and regulations.

The event was attended by State Minister of Power & Energy Indika Anurudda and D.V. Chanaka, Additional Secretary to the Power & Energy Ministry, the chairperson and managing director of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and several other officials.