At least 24 foreign companies are interested in the petroleum business in Sri Lanka, according to a government official on Monday.
The companies are from United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, the United States, China, India, Russia, Britain, Malaysia, Norway, and the Philippines.
Kanchana Wijesekera, Sri Lankan Minister of Power and Energy said that his ministry “has appointed a committee to evaluate the expressions of interest (EOIs) submitted by the foreign firms”, which will finalise the process within six weeks.
Wijesekera said companies in petroleum-producing countries were invited to import, distribute and sell petroleum products in Sri Lanka.
The minister added that 700 gas stations under the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) could be given to selected companies for operation.
He said the selected companies could also use other CPC facilities on a commercial basis.
Currently, the CPC and the Lanka Indian Oil Corporation are permitted to distribute fuel to retail customers.
Wijesekera said that the CPC, which holds 80 per cent of the retail petroleum market, was unable to keep on supplying fuel because of dollar shortages.
