‘Sri Lanka receives 67 proposals for fuel supply’

The state owned petroleum supplier, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), has received 67 proposals by companies to supply petroleum products, the Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said on Wednesday (25).

He said that the CPC had placed an advertisement, three weeks back, calling for proposals from companies for the supply of petroleum products to Sri Lanka.

The Minister said that the CPC had received 67 proposals and 39 of them had been shortlisted by a technical committee.

The Minister said that the Ministry and CPC officials had met representatives of the shortlisted companies on Tuesday (24).

Representatives of the shortlisted companies were informed of possible payment plans and the CPC’s requirements and the Ministry and CPC officials answered all questions posed by them, Minister Wijesekera said.

He added that the President, Prime Minister, and Ministry of Energy had requested support and credit lines from oil producing countries.

The Minister said that anyone interested in supplying petroleum products to Sri Lanka can still get in touch with the CPC and the Ministry of Energy.

“I kindly request anyone who can supply products to our requirements, and with the best pricing possible, to submit proposals to the Ministry of Energy or CPC to evaluate them, which we will do in 48 hours,” he said.

The Minister added that they had also looked at increasing the price of premium petroleum products, such as 95 octane Petrol and Super Diesel.

However, daily 95 octane Petrol and Super Diesel requirements are less than 10% of the market share and increasing their prices, significantly, will only create an artificial demand for lesser priced products, he said.

Sri Lanka has been facing fuel shortages, since February, due to its foreign reserve shortages. (RK)