Recognizing the importance of having a policy making body separately in respect of upstream and downstream petroleum activities, the Ministry of Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Development was established under the Government Extraordinary Gazette No. 1422/22 dated 08.12.2005.

After that, The Ministry of Petroleum Industries was established under the Government Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 1651/20 dated 30.04.2010 which was responsible only for downstream activities of the petroleum sector and upstream activities was directly steered by the then H.E. the President. However, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources Development which is currently responsible for upstream and downstream activities of petroleum sector was established by virtue of Government Extraordinary Gazette Notification No. 1933/13 dated 21.09.2015.

The demand for the fuel consumption has increased due to rapid development taking place in the country at present. Based on the cross cutting features of upstream and downstream petroleum industry among all economic development sectors, the petroleum sector has to develop in order to ensure the energy security of the country. In this endeavor, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources Development, as the policy making and the chief accounting body of the four entities namely the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Ltd, the Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat and Polipto Lanka (Pvt) Ltd plays an important role in formulation and implementation of all relevant policies, guidelines and development projects in achieving the set goals and targets while keeping its duties and responsibilities of administration and management. There are four main Divisions namely Administration, Development, Procurement and Finance being functioned within the Ministry under the heads of three Additional Secretaries to support the Secretary and the Hon. Ministers in order to ensure the efficient and effective decisions making.

Our Vision

To make both upstream and downstream petroleum industry the foremost contributor to the National Economic Development of Sri Lanka

Our Mission

To manage the activities of downstream and upstream petroleum industry effectively and efficiently in a sustainable manner to meet the energy needs of the country and harness the petroleum resources of the country to the optimum

Our Objectives

• Make Sri Lanka an energy self-sufficient nation by 2030.
• Optimum production of domestic oil and natural gas by 2030.
• Meet petroleum product demand of the country through our own processing by 2030.
• Upgrade quality of Die sel and Gasoline to E URO III and EURO IV standards respectively by 2020.
• Storage and distribution of fuel more efficiently and safely.
• Minimize haphazard disposal of plastic waste to the environment by converting it into petroleum fuel.
• Enhance the quality and reliability of fuel supply.
• Promote fuel conservation.