The Malaysian company is one of 10 shortlisted players to have lodged proposals to gain a toehold in the Sri Lankan market.
Should it be successful in winning the bid, this will follow on from the milestone of opening its first petrol station in Khartoum, Sudan, in August with a further 41 stations planned to open throughout the African country soon.
The 10 companies are bidding for a retailing licence, a one third share of fuel storage and pipeline facilities, and about 100 petrol stations that were offered in June of this year by the Sri Lanka government via its Public Enterprises Reform Committee (PERC).
According to a PERC press release, 40 companies made enquiries but only 22 were chosen and only 10 made bids. The commission’s financial advisor, Ernst & Young, did the short listing.
Aside from Petronas, the other bidders are Bharat Petroleum Investment Co, International Petroleum Investment Co, Reliance Industries Ltd., Shell Overseas Investments BV, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Ltd, Sinopec (Hong Kong) Ltd, East-West Petro-Products Ltd, Gas Auto Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, and Master Divers (Pvt) Ltd.
