Recent Cabinet decisions outlined that two Indian origin brothers Ashok Goel and Sudhir Goyel founded Gulf Petrochem FZC was awarded the procurement contracts for purchasing the refined petroleum products to Sri Lanka based on a proposal made by Arjuna Ranatunga, the Minister of Petroleum Resources Development. The Cabinet decisions noted that with a view to maintaining the petroleum stocks at an optimal level, it was decided to enter into 02 term contracts for purchasing refined petroleum products within a period of ten (10) months from the 01st of September 2018 up to the 30th of June 2019. Accordingly, the proposal made by Arjuna Ranatunga, the Minister of Petroleum Resources Development, to award the procurement contracts for purchasing the petroleum products to M/s Gulf Petrochem FZC of the United Arab Emirates, as recommended by the Special Standing Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee (SSCAPC), was approved by the Cabinet.

Gulf Petrochem (FZC) Group is a company operating in the downstream and midstream sectors of the oil and energy industry. It has six divisions in Oil Trading and Bunkering, Oil Refining, Grease Manufacturing, Oil Terminals, Bitumen Manufacturing, and Shipping and Logistics. The company was founded by Indian origin brothers in 1993, when Ashok Goel and Sudhir Goyel started trading in petrochemicals in India. In 1998 they obtained the rights to commission a refinery in Sharjah’s Hamriyah Freezone in United Arab Emirates, alongside a grease manufacturing plant producing lithium base grease.

In early April this year Cabinet Announcements said that Sri Lanka’s government had entered into a long term contract with M/s Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprise Pte Ltd to buy Murban Crude Oil to the tune of 7 million Barrels for the 8 months effective from 1st April 2018 to requirement of refining at Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery owned by Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. Accordingly the proposal submitted by Arjuna Ranatunga Ministry of Petroleum Resources Development to the Cabinet Ministers had been approved by the Standing Procurement Committee appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers.

That times as per the approved proposal Sri Lanka was to purchase 7 million Barrels of Murban Crude for next 8 months from April 2018 to a total value of over US $ 413 million; from Abu Dhabi oil fields of United Arab Emirates at a US $ 1.69 per Barrel above the spot price; which was then priced at US $ 57.39 per barrel from Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprise Pte Ltd – a Singapore based subsidiary of India’s US $43 billion Aditya Birla Group, a leading bulk commodity trading solutions provider across the globe.