Lanka IOC to upgrade Trinco terminal

Hopes to invest US $ 300 million:

Sanjeevi JAYASURIYA

The Lanka India Oil Company (Lanka IOC) plans to upgrade its Trincomalee terminal at an investment of US $ 300 million over the next three to four years.

“We are continuously upgrading the Trincomalee terminal and will be looking at investing Rs 200 to 300 million for the next year to upgrade infrastructure facilities. We conducted a pre-study to ascertain the upgrading requirement and according to the preliminary estimate the total cost stands at US $ 300 million”, Lanka IOC Managing Director K.R. Suresh Kumar told Daily News Business.

Lanka IOC will spread the total cost over 2 to 3 years and will commence upgrading with the completion of detailed engineering study where an engineering team will be deployed to study specific details, he said.

The engineering study is scheduled to commence next week. The activities will begin once the teams are formed according to the upgrading needs.

Commenting on the newly launched Extra Premium Euro 3 product he said that it is well accepted in the market and doing extremely well adding to the company’s bottom line.

The sales volume will reach the same level as Extra Premium where it recorded 5.5 million litres sales for the last month. The sales could surpass the volume end of this month, he said. The new product is available in 120 petrol sheds at present and the company will add more distributing points within the next two months.

“We plan to launch Extra Premium Euro 4 by April next year with the encouraging response from the customers. The customers are happy with the new product and we expect the same response for the Euro 4 as well,” he said.

With the Sri Lanka Port Authority upgrading bunkering fuel to meet global standards, all ships calling in Colombo Port could refuel with quality bunkering fuel from January 1. As the fuel has less Sulphur limit (3.5 percent from 4.5 percent of previous limit) it is more efficient and environment friendly, Suresh Kumar said. Lanka IOC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation has a wide reach in the country as the only private sector player in the petroleum industry. The company’s selling points are scattered around the country an it is in the process of upgrading the stations to meet the current demand.

“Our concern at present is the current oil prices which is at an upward movement and seek government intervention to overcome the difficulties,” he said.