Ceylon Petroleum Corporation

Company type| Government-owned corporation
Industry| Oil and gas
Founded| 1962; 63 years ago (1962)
Headquarters| CEYPETCO House,
609 Dr Danister De Silva mawatha,

Colombo 9

Sri Lanka

Number of locations

|  1,302 (2019)

Area served

| Sri Lanka

Key people

| Mohamed Uvais Mohamed
(Chairman)
Products| Petroleum
Natural gas
Motor fuel
Aviation fuel
Petrochemical
Lubricate

Production output

|  280,000 bbl/d (2021)[1]
Revenue|  Rs 531 billion (2020)[2]

Operating income

|  Rs 44 billion (2020)

Net income

|  Rs 1 billion (2020)[2]
Total assets|  Rs 349.69 billion (2020)[3]
Total equity|  Rs −529 billion (2020)[2]
Owner| Government of Sri Lanka

Number of employees

|  2,616 (2019)[3]
Parent| Ministry of Petroleum Resources Development
Subsidiaries| Litro Gas
Website| ceypetco.gov.lk

Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, commonly known as CEYPETCO (CPC), is a Sri Lankan oil and gas company. Established in 1962 and wholly owned by the Government of Sri Lanka, it is the largest oil company in Sri Lanka. It was formed in 1961 by nationalisation and expropriation of all private oil companies in Sri Lanka at the time of its formation.[4] It is under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum Resources Development headquartered in Colombo. It is the largest government owned company in the country, with an operational profit of Rs. 33.9 billion for the financial year 2020.[5]

CPC provides a substantial source of income for the Sri Lanka government, with 30% of the government's budget dependent on the company's dividend. In December 2018, CPC became Sri Lanka's most loss government corporation of the second consecutive years, with a record loss of Rs. 326 billion at the end of 2018.[6]

## History

[edit]

Even after independence in 1948, policy towards the country's petroleum and gas industry had remained unchanged until the end of the 1950s. The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation was created with the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Act of May 29, 1961.[7] Subsequent legislative acts in 1962, 1963 and 1964 expropriated the properties belonging to Shell, Esso and Caltex in the country, and gave the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation the exclusive right to import, sell, export or distribute most petroleum products in Sri Lanka.[7]

In 1961, Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1960–65) launched in Act. No. 28 of 1961 to bypass the monopolistic pricing imposed on OPEC oil imports, allowing Sri Lanka to import oil from the UAE and the former Soviet Russia. After establishing CPC Bandaranaike nationalised the Anglo–Dutch operating companies (Shell and BP).

In 1968, the company built a new refinery, increasing production to 38,000 BPD.[8]

From 1969, it became possible for foreign petroleum companies to do business in Sri Lanka within a partnership with National Iranian Oil Company. Sapugaskanda Refinery was built by Iran under the guidance of the CPC in August 1969 Sapugaskanda establishment of JET A1 producing unit in the late 1980s. It is the single largest oil refinery of Sri Lanka.[9]

In the mid-1970s, the company began to sell LPG cylinders to homes in Colombo and further expanded its delivery network.

CPC accounts for more than half of Sri Lanka's petroleum products market share, 60% national refining capacity. CPC own and operate single refineries with a combined refining capacity of 50,000 barrels (7,900 m3) per stream day.[10]

Since the 1970s, CPC being the monopoly operator in the national market was able to enlarge the portfolio of its operation; importation of crude oil and refined oil, storage and distribution and retail trade. Besides, many products were added to the distribution and retail trade by CEYPETCO: agrochemicals, chemical fertiliser, LPG, Naphtha, synthetic fiber. With the refinery operation, bitumen for road construction was partly supplied by CPC. Further, the sale of lubricating oil and bunkering oil for sea vessels was found to be increasingly profitable for CPC by the late 1970s.[8]

Between 1977 and 1994 the country came under UNP rule in which under President J.R Jayawardana Sri Lanka began to shift away from a socialist orientation in 1977. Since then, the government has been deregulating, privatizing, and opening the economy to international competition. Post-1977, private sector activity in lubricant, synthetic fiber and bunkering oil subsectors was allowed under privatisation on an initiative taken in the early 1980s. In addition, the operation of LPG importation and distribution was also allowed later in which retail sales have been undertaken by entities outside CEYPETCO. In late 1996 Royal Dutch Shell purchased a 51 per cent stake in the CPC's LPG division for US$37 million. Ten years after government brought back majority stake for US$63 million as a part of its wider policy of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s re-nationalization.[11]

In 1978, the company expanded its business into manufacture of Nylon 6 yarn for textile, tires and fishing industries. In1979, capacity of the Refinery increased to 50,000 BPD by increasing the crude distiller capacity.[8]

On October 20, 1995, suicide cadres of the LTTE attacked the oil storage complexes at Kolonnawa and Orugodawatta. They managed to blow themselves up destroying the tanks. 22 security personnel died during this attack, and petroleum oil worth over US$10 million was destroyed.[12]

In 2003 to bring in another participant into the petroleum industry's key products market with a view to increase competition. Accordingly, the Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC) was set up and allowed importation and retail distribution of key petroleum products: diesel, petrol and bitumen.[13]

CPC's has been providing electricity-generating entities with relevant categories of oil for electricity generation for decades. Electricity generation on oil occupies an increasing proportion since the 1990s, as the increase of demand for electricity has to be met from the thermal power. Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has a debt of up to Rs. 500 billion due to be paid to CPC.[14]

In the wake of the Sri Lankan energy crisis power and energy minister decided to break the existing fuel market duopoly enjoyed by the company, which controlled 80% and by the Lanka Indian Oil Company controlling the rest 20%.[15] As a result in March 2023 three corporations were allowed to enter Sti Lanka: United Petroleum, Sinopec, and RM Parks in a collaboration with Shell.[16]

## Finances

[edit]

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

|

CPC financial performance

Year  | Revenue

(mil. LKR)

| Net income

(mil. LKR)

| Total assets

(mil. LKR)

| Employees

|
|
|
|

2005[17] | 161,851  | 7,710  | 69,106  | 2,866
2006[17] | 196,766  | −1,721  | 74,233  | 2,930
2007[18] | 238,364  | 2,862  | 97,873  | 2,931
2008[19] | 341,670  | −14,952  | 120,631  | 2,832
2009[20] | 237,662  | −11,566  | 147,144  | 2,792
2010[21] | 256,329  | −26,922  | 153,223  | 2,744
2011[22] | 356,442  | −94,508  | 187,127  | 2,610
2012[23] | 512,910  | −97,308  | 206,231  | 2,658
2013[24] | 518,152  | −7,984  | 187,035  | 2,657
2014[25] | 558,324  | 1,741  | 182,550  | 2,668
2015[26] | 376,734  | −21,735  | 199,107  | 2,579
2016[27] | 423,061  | 53,027  | 190,989  | 2,577
2017[28] | 446,502  | 1,469  | 218,701  | 2,573
2018[29] | 520,967  | −105,050  | 329,271  | 2,461
2019[30] | 630,859  | −11,856  | 326,340  | 2,366

## Financial fallout

[edit]

Ceylon Petroleum was Sri Lanka's largest company by revenue. But now the company is reporting loss in several million rupees.[31] In April 2020 Ceylon Petroleum Corporation lost Rs. 45.1 billion first quarter. Company total debt rising 1,158.7 billion.[32]

Import expenditure on petroleum in 2021 was US$3.9 billion against US$1.7 billion in 2019. They represented 25 per cent and 20 per cent of the total import expenditure in the respective years. This is not different from the ratio that existed in the late 1970s which was around 25 per cent of the value of total imports.[33] On November 14, 2021, Sri Lanka Government shut down the Sapugaskanda oil refinery because the paucity of dollars to import crude oil. The Sapugaskanda is 51 years old and it produces 37 per cent of Kerosene (Furnace oil), Naptha 19 per cent Jet fuel and 43 per cent Petrol and Diesel.[34] Government received a US$1 billion loan from Central Bank of Qatar to buy fuel and boost foreign reserves, which dropped to US$2.27 billion at the end of October 2021. During the first nine months of 2021, CPC spends US$692 million on fuel imports.[35]

CPC might lessen its oil import volumes in 2021 due to a decrease in demand of jet fuel and fuel oil.[36]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Asia Distillates Cash premiums extend rise, cracks rebound". Reuters. 2021-11-24. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
2. ^ a b c "Ceylon Petroleum Corporation: What drives the losses?". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
3. ^ a b "2019 Annual Report" (PDF). Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. ceypetco.gov.lk. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
4. ^ "Ceylon Petroleum Corporation". Archived from the original on 2011-08-06. Retrieved 2011-07-14.
5. ^ "CPC makes Rs 33.9 B profit in 2020". CeylonToday. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
6. ^ "Ceylon Petroleum Corporation: What drives the losses?". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
7. ^ a b Amerasinghe, Chittharanjan (1964). "The Ceylon Oil Expropriations". American Journal of International Law. 58 (2): 445–450\. doi:10.1017/S0002930000759859. ISSN 0002-9300.445-450&rft.date=1964&rft_id=info:doi/10.1017/S0002930000759859&rft.issn=0002-9300&rft.aulast=Amerasinghe&rft.aufirst=Chittharanjan&rft_id=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-journal-of-international-law/article/abs/ceylon-oil-expropriations/36A1188266D002CFBC109CA9FB0BA412&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Ceylon+Petroleum+Corporation" class="Z3988">
8. ^ a b c Petroleum Corporation (1994). Oil Refinery: 25th Anniversary (in English, Sinhala, and Tamil). Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
9. ^ Aneez, Shihar (16 May 2018). "Iran agrees to build new refinery for Sri Lanka". Reuters. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
10. ^ "Sapugaskanda Refinery". Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
11. ^ "Sri Lanka buys back gas business from Shell for $63 mln". Reuters. 2010-11-03. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
12. ^ Jayaram, P. (November 15, 1995). "Spilling into Colombo". India Today. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
13. ^ "Lanka IOC PLC : IndianOil Overseas". iocl.com. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
14. ^ "Rs 50M to be given to CEB by CEYPETCO". CeylonToday. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
15. ^ "Cash-starved Sri Lanka To End Fuel Duopoly To Ease Fuel Shortages". International Business Times. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
16. ^ "A year after crisis, Sri Lanka allows 3 foreign oil companies to sell fuel - Business & Economy News". WION. 11 April 2023. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
17. ^ a b "Annual Report 2006" (PDF).
18. ^ "Annual Report 2007" (PDF).
19. ^ "Annual Report 2008" (PDF).
20. ^ "Annual Report 2009" (PDF).
21. ^ "Annual Report 2010" (PDF).
22. ^ "Annual Report 2011" (PDF).
23. ^ "Annual Report 2012" (PDF).
24. ^ "Annual Report 2013" (PDF).
25. ^ "Annual Report 2014" (PDF).
26. ^ "Annual Report 2015" (PDF).
27. ^ "Annual Report 2016" (PDF).
28. ^ "Annual Report 2017" (PDF).
29. ^ "ANNUAL REPORT 2018" (PDF).
30. ^ "Annual Report 2019" (PDF).
31. ^ "CEYPETCO incur a Rs. 17.5 billion loss in less than 3 weeks". Sri Lanka News - Newsfirst. 2018-09-30. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
32. ^ "Sri Lanka's CPC loses Rs45 billion to April 2020 amid soft-peg collapse". EconomyNext. 2020-07-14. Retrieved 2020-12-24.
33. ^ "SL to cut oil imports amidst dwindling forex reserves". Print Edition - The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
34. ^ "Sri Lanka offers an incentive for remittances as it struggles to contain severe foreign exchange crisis". The Hindu. PTI. 2021-12-02. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
35. ^ "Sri Lanka reserves at US$ 1.5 Bn - State Minister". Sri Lanka News - Newsfirst. 2021-12-09. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
36. ^ "Sri Lanka may reduce oil product imports in 2021 | Argus Media". www.argusmedia.com. 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2021-12-23.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website