Slipping In

May 25, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka unit of the Indian Oil Corporation is planning to boost its 13 percent share in the island's lube business after getting the government nod to enter the licensed industry, the company said Friday. The company said the secretary of Sri Lanka's Ministry of Petroleum and Petroleum Resources A P Gunesekera and Amitava Chatterjee, Executive Director (Lubes) of IOC Mumbai official inked the deal giving the firm the right to produce, blend, market and export SERVO branded lubricants in Sri Lanka.

IOC is represented in Sri Lanka by Lanka IOC, a Colombo listed subsidiary that has a third of the retail petroleum distribution in the island.

"¦with IOC’s support, Lanka IOC has an ambitious plan of becoming the leading lube manufacturer and marketer in Sri Lanka," the IOC said in a statement.

Lanka IOC claims a 13 percent share of the lubricant market and also has a part of a tank farm in the north-eastern port city of Trincomalee, which it acquired as part of a privatization of state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.

"In line with the vision of Government of Sri Lanka to develop Trincomalee area into an economically and industrially developed zone, Lanka IOC is constructing a state-of