Jan 28, Colombo: Sri Lanka's petroleum authority Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) plans to resume bunkering operations which it stopped in 2008.

Under a court ruling in 2008 that ordered the bunkering services to be handed over to the Sri Lanka Port Authority, CPC lost the income it received from bunkering.

Discussions are now underway between the Ministries of Petroleum Industries and Ports to enable the CPC to take the bunkering business back.

Meanwhile, six bunkering firms of Sri Lanka are likely to lose their licenses due to failure in continuing operations, Ministry of Petroleum Industries said.

The Ministry said in a statement that it had issued permits to 10 firms prior to April 21, 2010 for providing bunkering facilities to ships but only four of them had performed services properly in recent times.