United Petroleum inks agreement with Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment
The Morning: United Petroleum Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd. entered into a contract on 4 June with Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI) with an investment of $ 27.5 million, as part of the agreement signed between the Ministry of Power and Energy to supply Petroleum products in Sri Lankan Market. This event came into live after selecting the company based on an RFP issued by the Sri Lankan Government to further liberalise the country’s retail petroleum sector early last year.
United Petroleum Australia (Pvt.) Ltd. is a leading petroleum trading company in Australia owning over 500 fuel stations all over the Australian subcontinent. Company is owned by TWO Enterprising Entrepreneurs namely Avi Silver and Eddie Hirsch from Australia. United Group also has many other businesses in Australia and Singapore and this is the first time, company expanded their retail petroleum business outside Australia. United is a billion-dollar company with focus on quality, safety, and environment.
Owners of the company believe that they should be able to benchmark good practices to the Sri Lankan retail petroleum market and enhance the quality of products and service to its customers.
United is planning to upgrade and uplift the standards of the retail petroleum sector in Sri Lanka with quality of products and services. Company is assigned 150 existing fuel stations around the country and has the right of building 50 new fuel stations under the ownership of United.
United Petroleum Australia has incorporated a company in Sri Lanka namely United Petroleum Lanka (Pvt Ltd., to carry out the operations and former Board Member of CEYPETCO and renowned professional in petroleum industry, Dr. Prabath Samarasinghe has been assigned at the capacity of Director and CEO of the company. BOI Chairperson Dinesh Weerakkody signed on behalf of the Board of Investment and CEO and Director Dr. Prabath Samarasinghe has signed the contract at the event organised by BOI Sri Lanka.
OSL take:
The opening up of Sri Lanka’s fuel retail market has become a lucrative business opportunity. Apart from the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and the Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC), there are three new entrants to the market including United Petroleum. The profits recorded by the likes of LIOC in the energy retail business is indicative of the lucrative nature of Sri Lanka’s energy industry. The increasing demand in the local energy market is likely to see a further expansion with the increasing economic activities in the country and Sri Lanka’s target of becoming a regional hub. Sri Lanka’s geographical positioning in the Indian Ocean in close proximity to the international maritime routes also presents the opportunity for foreign businesses in the energy industry to also explore business/investment opportunities in the oil bunkering business. Given Sri Lanka’s overall growth and business potential, foreign businesses/investors could confidently explore the expanding business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s energy industry.