Govt. mulls new oil storage facility in KKS

Petroleum Resources Development Minister Arjuna Ranatunga said yesterday that his Ministry is planning to develop another oil storage facility in Kankesanthurai (KKS), Jaffna, to be used for bunkering facilities in the near future.

“We have got an eight acre land from KKS Cement Corporation, where we are now trying to build some tanks, to cater bunkering facilities to some of the smaller ships. It cannot be done overnight, but Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) can earn a big profit if we implement these right,” he told journalists in Colombo yesterday.

Noting that the Ministry has completed all documents and are ready to offer CPC a license for bunkering facilities, he said they were keen on attracting local investors to commence operations there.

“Right now, there is a huge cost involved in transporting fuel from Colombo to the North and East through bowsers. We can save a huge amount by investing in the Trincomalee and KKS projects. Once we commence bunkering facilities, it will also help to earn the much-needed foreign exchange for economic development in Sri Lanka,” he added.

Ranatunga also said six to eight new tanks with a capacity of 60,000 MTs were being built in Kolonnawa, which would greatly help in managing stocks.

“At the moment we are managing with a weak stock, but with KKS, we can at least go up to about two to three weeks, and once the Trincomalee oil tankers joint venture comes into place, we might be able to have a decent stock for about a month or two,” the Minister pointed out.

In another effort to reduce the distribution cost, he said Transport Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has submitted a Cabinet paper and received approval to provide 50 rail-road car tankers. 

“We are going to increase the train transportation of fuel, which will enable us to save a large sum of money and gradually reduce the bowser distribution to North and East. However, the problem in implementation is that all the unions are opposed, because they are currently benefiting through the existingbowser system,” he asserted.

The Minister also said they are planning to install kerosene and diesel stations in fishery harbours in the future, to mitigate unwarranted people using the subsidy given to those two fuel types. 

“Kerosene is given at a subsidised price, but we observe that people are still misusing this subsidy given to them, particularly the people outside the fisheries industry. Those who are protesting on the kerosene subsidy are not really the fishermen, but the trucks and bus drivers. They use this subsidy to get kerosene for heavy vehicles as a substitute to diesel. So, we want to sell kerosene and diesel inside fisheries ports, and stop selling outside on the concessionary rate,” he stressed.

With Sri Lanka’s petrol and diesel prices being 30% to 40% lower than Indian market prices, Minister Ranatunga acknowledged they were aware of the underhand business the fishermen were also involved in supplying to the South Indian market.

“Not only petrol and diesel, but they are also dealing kerosene to the South Indian market. We are monitoring the situation,” he added.

However, Ranatunga said the Ministry has no power to take action against these wrongdoers, and called for a new unit to be set up, to detain them or confiscate their properties after a few warnings. (CdeS)