December 23, 2019 [Xinhua] – Sri Lanka aims to double its crude oil tank capacity by 2020, while a tripartite LNG terminal and power plant agreement will be signed with India and Japan by mid next year, Transportation, Power and Energy Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said in a statement here Monday.

The minister said the newly appointed government headed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was planning for the current two-week fuel storage capacity to be increased to four weeks by next year to ensure there is no shortage of oil following a severe oil crisis which hit the island country in 2017.

While the previous UNF government had planned to expand the fuel storage tanks at the Kolonnawa Terminal in the outskirts of the capital, the new government would also evaluate the establishment of new tanks or the possibility of reacquiring and rehabilitating some of the oil tanks in Trincomalee in the east which is currently on lease to India.

A new oil distribution pipeline will also be constructed from Colombo Port.

Sri Lanka faced a massive oil shortage in Nov. 2017 with the island country’s transport sector coming to a standstill amid a severe petrol shortage.

Petrol consumption in Sri Lanka has almost doubled since the ethnic war ended in 2009, with demand increasing about 7 percent annually.

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