By Sunimalee Dias
Lanka IOC is planning to reorganise its bunkering business systems with hopes to expand business to Hambantota.

The company aims at growing with more activities taking place in Sri Lanka, LIOC Managing Director (MD) Suresh Kumar said yesterday. He noted that these changes would be carried out internally in a bid to improve its efficiency as part of an ongoing process.

Kumar observed that should the Government permit it, LIOC would also expand bunkering in Hambantota as well. The Government is expected "to take a view at the appropriate time" in relation to allowing bunkering operations to get underway.

The LIOC MD observed that they believed Hambantota would prove to be of immense value to its operations.

LIOC lost Rs.422 million in the year to March 2010 down from Rs.1, 237 million a year earlier but had boosted bunkering sales to 15 per cent of its total revenues.
The company's sales of bunkers or ship fuel had risen to 149 million litres from just 21 million litres a year earlier.

Revenue from bunkers had grown to Rs.7.7 billion (15.3% of total) from Rs.977 million a year earlier as total revenue rose 5.4% to Rs.50.2 billion.

LIOC is an overseas venture of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and is listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange.