H’tota port to become strategic energy center for SL

The Hambantota Port will be developed to become a strategic energy center in Sri Lanka with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and the Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) having entered into an MoU.

 The strategic energy center, which will expand storage and bulk distribution facilities of CPC, will be constructed since the existing storage capacity of the entity is sufficient to store refined petroleum product requirements of the entire country for a period of only one month.

According to CPC, the existing capacity is below the requirements of ensuring the energy security of the country. CPC shared that it has identified the need to increase its fuel storage capacity to cater to at least three months of the nation’s demand.

The development of the center will be carried out in a land area of approximately 50 Acres owned by Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority, and will include a separate storage terminal with associated facilities for both domestic and export purposes connected to the Port.

The connection will be done via a pipeline that will be set up by the CPC approximately 15 Kilometers away from the Port.

CPC Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe stated that the partnership with HIPG will increase the storage facility and help mitigate the impact of global fuel price fluctuations.

“It will drive CPC to minimize and save additional foreign currency outflows.

“Apart from that, setting up in the Hambantota Industrial Zone, away from the traffic congestion of the country’s most residential cities, will make it an environmentally-friendly terminal,” Wijesinghe said in a statement to the media a short while ago.