CPC employees strike over impending Indo-Lanka oil deal in Trinco

• Request by the Unions to meet the President turned down
• Crucial talks with the Minister Weerakkody today
• Minister claims unions have misunderstood his Cabinet Paper to form a JV to manage Trinco Oil Tank Farm

By Chathuri Dissanayake

Employees of the Ceylon Petroleum Cooperation launched a strike from midnight opposing the agreement to be signed with India regarding investment to develop the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm and establish an oil refinery.

Following attempts to meet President Maithripala Sirisena, the Petroleum Joint Union Alliance has decided to launch the strike and will meet the subject minister today to discuss the issue, Convener D.J. Rajakaruna told Daily FT. 

“We gave a letter to our Minister seeking a meeting with the President, but we have been informed that meeting him is not possible. So there is no other option but to launch the strike,” he said. The alliance is making three demands which also include renovation of the CPC refinery and the awarding of the contract of the operation of the bunkering facility and tank farm at the Port of Hambantota.

Rajakaruna alleges that the agreement to hand over the Trincomalee Oil Farm to India is to be finalised during Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to India. 

The Times of India also reported last week that Sri Lanka has readied a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for joint development of the Trincomalee Port to balance out China. Accordingly, the MoU is likely to be signed during the upcoming visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, Minister of Petroleum Resources and Development Chandima Weerakkody claimed that the Indian Oil Company was already using the tank farm in Trincomalee and that successive governments had accepted a lease payment of $ 100,000 per annum.

He claimed that the last Cabinet paper submitted by him was an attempt to regain some form of control of the oil farm to Sri Lanka. Weerakkody said that despite legal issues and shortcomings in the agreement that is in force now, the country’s Indian counterparts have had full control of the tanks to date.

“The unions have misunderstood the issue. The Cabinet paper I have submitted is to gain at least some form of control to the Government through a joint venture, as right now the IOC has control over it,” he said.

According to him, no attempt has been made to address the issue since 2003.