The Hambantota International Port (HIP) recently awarded a tender to Sinopec Fuel Oil Sales Co. Limited for oil trading works and the operation and maintenance of their oil tank terminal along with associated facilities.
Bunkering being an important part of the marine services portfolio offered by Hambantota International Port (HIP), the oil tank terminal in partnership with Sinopec Fuel Oil Sales Co. Limited will provide high grades of marine fuels compliant with the IMO 2020 Low Sulphur Rule and other ancillary facilities to marine liners calling at the Hambantota Port.
CEO of Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) Ray Ren said, “The partnership with Sinopec, which is one of the largest providers of bunkers worldwide, underlines our goal of becoming a bunkering hub for the region. Plans are in the pipeline to expand our tank capacity in the near future.”
COO of HIPG, Tissa Wickremasinghe said, “We believe this cooperation would help us provide cost-competitive and high-quality products and effective and safe services to our customers,” he said.
Deputy General Manager and Chief Accountant of Sinopec Fuel Oil Sales Corporation Limited Han Xueling said, “With our capability as the largest oil product supplier in China, we considered it our responsibility to start the production and supply of low Sulphur fuel (LSFO) and MGO. Hambantota International Port is one of the many world ports, we will be supplying marine fuel to in 2019, and we guarantee the supply of VLSFO to service all Indian Ocean vessels. We look forward to a long-term partnership with HIP which we consider as a strategic hub in South Asia.”
Headquartered in Beijing, the Sinopec Group is the largest oil and petrochemical products supplier in China. Sinopec Fuel Oil Sales Company, covers all key ports in China’s coastal areas, and operates in more than 40 overseas key ports worldwide. They own and operate 25 in-use oil depots with a storage capacity of more than one million cubic metres and more than 100 oil barges are in use.
“We plan to expand the port’s capacity — in fact we estimate the volume to surpass one million TPA (tons per annum) in the space of five years, bringing us closer to our goal of establishing Hambantota Port as a bunkering hub in South Asia. HIP will also be looking at a number of associated services such as FW supply and sludge removal, which are already in the pipeline,” said CEO Ren.