COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Chinese petroleum giant Sinopec signed an contract with Sri Lanka on Monday to getin into the South Asian island nation’s retail fuel market as it hasahardtime to willpower a intensifying energy crisis amidst an extraordinary financial turmoil.
The agreement contract would allow Sinopec to import, shop, disperse and sell petroleum items in Sri Lanka, which has had a fuel lack for more than a year.
The relocation comes as Beijing looks to combine financialinvestments in Sri Lanka’s ports and energy sector amidst growing security issues raised by the island country’s instant next-doorneighbor, India, which thinksabout Sri Lanka to be its tactical yard.
Sri Lanka, which is dealingwith a foreign exchange crisis, hopes the offer will aid to willpower its energy crisis.
The arrangement signed Monday in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, was made to “ensure continuous fuel providers to customers,” the president’s workplace stated in a news release.
Under the pact, Sinopec will be given a 20-year license to run 150 fuel stations presently ran by Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroeulm Corporation, and to invest in 50 brand-new fuel stations and in the nation’s energy sector, the country’s Power and Energy Ministry stated in a declaration.
Sinopec can start operations within 45 days of license issuance and “this advancement brings hope for a more steady and dependable fuel supply, enhancing the nation’s energy sector and supplying guarantee to customers,” the president’s workplace stated.
When the financial crisis hit Sri Lanka l