The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation will call for proposals to lease out 29 disused oil tanks at Trincomalee to investors on a long-term basis, as part of an effort to turn the harbour into a fuel re-export hub.
CPC Managing Director Mayura Neththikumarage said the 29 tanks are among the 61 currently held by Trinco Petroleum Terminal Limited, NewsFirst reported on Wednesday. The stated objective is to establish a fuel re-export hub at Trincomalee.
Renovation of two other CPC-owned tanks at the site has already begun, Neththikumarage said.
Who holds what
Trinco Petroleum Terminal Ltd is the joint venture set up to manage 61 of the tanks at the Trincomalee farm, with the CPC holding 51 percent and Lanka Indian Oil Corporation 49 percent — a structure announced by the then energy minister at the end of 2021. The 29 tanks now being offered sit inside that block.
That distinction matters for reading the announcement: this is not a sale of state assets but a search for a tenant-operator willing to fund the refurbishment of tanks that have stood idle for decades, on a facility the state and its Indian partner jointly control.
Why a re-export hub
Trincomalee has one of the largest natural deep-water harbours in the region and sits close to the shipping lanes running between the Gulf and East Asia. A re-export hub would use the tanks as a storage and blending stop for fuel destined elsewhere, earning fees on throughput rather than depending on domestic fuel demand — a different proposition from the tanks’ original role as a strategic reserve.
The tank farm is a Second World War-era installation. Successive governments have announced plans to bring it back into commercial use; the persistent obstacle has been the cost of rehabilitating tanks that have been out of service for decades, and finding operators prepared to carry it.
What has not been said
NewsFirst did not report the lease term on offer, the number of tanks any single investor could take, when the call for proposals will open, or whether it will be advertised internationally. Nor did the report say whether the process requires Cabinet approval before proposals are invited.
The move is separate from the government’s offshore Mannar basin licensing round, which concerns exploration acreage rather than storage infrastructure.
As of Wednesday morning, no other verified Sri Lankan newsroom had published its own report of the announcement.
