Sri Lanka's Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera announced that the first shipment of SINOPEC fuel reached the Island nation, and was being unloaded.

He said the second shipment will reach the country on Wednesday (2).

The Minister said that the entry of new retail suppliers to the domestic market will ease the forex requirements for petroleum products as the suppliers will bring in products on a 12 month financing facility from their principal investors with no forex requirements from the domestic financial institutes. 

Sinopec will commence retail petroleum operations with 150 fuel stations islandwide once the agreements with the fuel station dealers are signed & finalized.

In May 2023, Chinese oil giant Sinopec signed an agreement with Sri Lanka that allows the company to operate for the next 20 years to import, store, distribute and sell petroleum products in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka selected three companies to import, store, distribute, and sell Petroleum Products in predetermined Distribution Dealer operated Networks in Sri Lanka.

They were:

M/s Sinopec Fuel Oil Lanka (Private) Limited, F5, Hambantota Maritime Center, Mirijjawila, Hambantota, Sri Lanka

M/s United Petroleum Pty Ltd, 600 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122, Australia

M/s RM Parks, 1061 N. Main St, Porterville, CA 93257, USA, in collaboration with Shell PLC