Sri Lanka, China Sign Accord on Construction of Oil TanksSri Lanka's Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) signed an agreement with China's Huanqiu Chemical Engineering Corporation December 4 for the construction of an oil tank farm in the suburb of the capital, Colombo.CPC officials said the new oil tank farm is expected to double Sri Lanka's petroleum storage capability within three years. The Chinese company will build 29 storage tanks together with a single point buoy mooring to unload oil from tankers without having them enter the port. The tanks will be built at Muthurajawela, 14 kilometers north of Colombo and will have a capacity of 250,000 cubic meters. The Chinese company is also involved in the restoration of six more tanks at the Kolonnawa main storage depot which was set ablaze by separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in October 1995. Sri Lanka's current storage capacity of petroleum is about 300,000 cubic meters. CPC officials said it was an urgent need to raise storage capacity in the country to ensure regular supplies. The work,which is expected to begin next month, will be completed within three years. CPC Chairman Anil Obeysekere said his corporation has also started talks with the Chinese authorities on the expansion of Sri Lanka's oil refinery and exploration of the possibility of establishing a joint venture in the field of petrochemical industry. The corporation is also expecting to increase the current capacity of the oil refinery in the country from 700,000 tons to 1.4 million tons of diesel annually. |
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