Chevron nabs Sapugaskanda lubricant tender

By Skandha Gunasekara

Cabinet approval has been given to award the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) tender for the procurement of lubricant for the Sapugaskanda power plant to Chevron Lanka Plc.

Co-cabinet spokesman Minister Gayantha Karunathilaka made this disclosure at the weekly Cabinet press briefing held yesterday.

Accordingly, as the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) lacked the specified lubricant type Taro 40 X L 40, it was decided by the Cabinet of Ministers to award the CEB tender for the contract of supplying 1.1 million litres of lubricant oil, the requirement of the Sapugaskanda power plant for 2017/2018, at a rate of Rs. 234.43 per litre to Chevron Lanka Plc.

The breakdown of the procurement tender is as follows: Plant A 800,000 litres at Rs. 234.43 per litre (Rs. 187,544,000+15% VAT), Plant B 300,000 litres (Rs. 70,329,000+15% VAT) and for unplanned urgent requirements 110,000 litres (Rs 25,787,300+15% VAT). 

The procurement process followed initially saw a Cabinet proposal being submitted to obtain approval of the Cabinet for the tender on purchasing lubricant oil for the Sapugaskanda power plant. Thereafter it was decided by the Cabinet that the Minister of Power and Renewable Energy Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and Minister of Petroleum Resource Development Arjuna Ranatunga would submit a joint proposal on the awarding of the tender and consequently a joint committee of CEB and CPC officials discussed matters. 

The CEB and CPC Joint Committee concluded that the lubricant oil of the prescribed specifications of the plant manufacturer should only be applied for this power plant and that this particular type of lubricant oil was not produced by the CPC and therefore the corporation was not in a position to supply the lubricant. As a result, an outside supplier was sought to procure the prescribed lubricant oil.