Minister Premajayantha opposes move

Minister Susil Premajayantha, one-time Petroleum Resources Minister who was responsible for the 2003 Cabinet paper which resulted in gaining two-thirds control over the tank farm for the CPC and aborting a move by the then Government to hand over one-third of share control to Barath Petroleum, an Indian company, last week was critical of the proposed joint venture with India to develop the Trincomalee Harbour and Oil Tank Farm.

“We have given our opinion, the problem is they don’t listen,” the Minister said at a forum last week.

“Why does the IOC want these oil tanks? It is for the land. When I was the subject minister I got clarification from the Attorney General regarding the matter. The land and the property on the land belong to the State. So then a property that belongs to the Government cannot be leased out by the CPC and the old agreement is illegal. The solution is to give the number of tanks needed by the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals and the CPC on lease agreements,” he explained.  

The Government has to understand whether they want the tanks or the land, he explained.

Speaking strongly against the proposed agreement, he highlighted that if the CPC utilises the storage facilities at the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm, the country would be able to manage a buffer stock to better face oil price fluctuations.

“Now the CPC has the capacity to manage stocks only for 42 days, if they take Trinco oil farm tanks, we can store a buffer stock worth of four months. That is what we need to do,” he said.