The Sri Lankan government has renewed the petroleum products licence granted to Lanka IOC, the local subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation, for another 20 years, officials said on Monday.
The licence originally issued in 2003 was to expire in January 2024. This will allow Lanka IOC to continue its retail operations on the debt-trapped island nation until January 22, 2044.
The licence renewal letter was handed over by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to Dipak Das the Managing Director of LIOC late last week, Aseem Bhargav, the Chief Financial Officer of LIOC said in a statement.
The government has renewed the petroleum products licence granted to Lanka IOC, the local subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation, for another 20 years, the LIOC officials told PTI on Monday.
"The licence enables LIOC to import, export, store, transport, distribute, sell and supply petrol diesel, heavy diesel, furnace oil, kerosene, Naphtha and other mineral petroleum including premium petrol and premium diesel."
The LIOC holds around 20 per cent of the market share in the auto fuel segment in Sri Lanka.
When Sri Lanka plunged into an economic crisis with no forex to import petroleum products, the LIOC operation became crucial in the energy sector. It operates over 200 retail outlets throughout the island nation.
