Page 13 - AsianOil Week 14
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EAST ASIA
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The announcement of this latest BRI pro- ject is a small piece of good news for China’s geopolitical ambitions after a tough start to 2020. BRI had been expected to lead to hun- dreds of billions of dollars’ worth of infra- structure projects both in China and overseas. However, with the global economy heading for recession this year following the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it is unclear just how
many new projects will make it off the draw- ing board. The World Bank now anticipates that China’s GDP growth will slow from 6.1% in 2019 to just 2.3% this year, its slowest rate since the country’s recession in 1976.
Kazakhstan is a major exporter of oil and gas to China via pipeline, delivering 10.88mn tonnes (218,000 barrels per day) of crude and 7.5bn cubic metres of gas to its neighbour last year.
Sinopec starts up Sri Lankan bunkering operations
PROJECTS & COMPANIES
CHINA’S state-run Sinopec has announced the official launch of bunkering operations at its oil depot at the port of Hambantota in Sri Lanka.
The company said it had successfully refu- elled its first ship on April 7 after having received its first shipment of fuel oil that same day.
Hambantota International Port (HIP) said the oil product tanker Melody Majuro had delivered around 25,000 tonnes of very low sul- phur fuel oil (VLSFO) to the port’s tanks. HIP, which is a 70:30 joint venture between China’s CM Port Holdings and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), handles the port’s commer- cial operations.
HIP picked Sinopec in April 2019 to manage the port’s oil trade business while also operating and maintaining the oil tank terminal and asso- ciated facilities.
Commenting on the launch of bunkering services, HIP chief operating officer Tissa Wick- ramasinghe said: “The port invested in refur- bishing the tank farm to Lloyd’s classification standards, and the tank farm facility will be oper- ated and managed by Sinopec, a leading global operator, who will train our local staff up to internationalstandardsinsafetyandoperation.”
Sinopec said: “Hambantota Port is only 10 nautical miles [18.5 km] from the central Indian Ocean sea lane and is therefore of prime geograph- ical importance. More than a half of the world’s container freight takes this route, as does a third of bulk shipments and two-thirds of oil shipments. Given its strategic location, Hambantota Port has emerged as a key port on the Belt and Road.”
The Sri Lankan government signed a con- cession agreement with CM Port in 2017 for the operation of Hambantota as a private public partnership (PPP) project. The country bor- rowed $1.26bn between 2007 and 2014 to build the port, which started operations in 2011 but wasstilllosingmoneyin2016.
Image: HIP
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