Six/seven decades ago when a car drops in for refuelling at a gasoline station run by Shell, Caltex or Mobil [Flying Red Horse], which happens usually at 10 or 15-minute intervals, the
well-mannered pump men who have plenty of leisure, flock around it, exchange pleasantries with occupants.
While one of them cleans the windscreen, [the cars did not have water jets to spray] another checks the tyre pressure, a third doing oil and radiator checks and a word of advice on the condition of the road ahead and so on.
The ACs, power shutters, power mirrors, power steering, as well as cheating by pumper was never heard of. Petrol pumped manually was sold in gallons [4.5 Lts] which cost less than Rs 2 a gallon.
The two, half-gallon each, opaque glass bottles fixed on top of the meter stand, arose child’s curiosity as one bottle gets filled with petrol while the other emptied its content to the tank, taking turns in the process simultaneously as the operator moves the pump handle up and down. An average full tank costs less than ten Rupees.
Customers on an excursion or picnic would certainly share their sandwiches and cake with the attendants before receiving their blessings.
The three powerful oil giants dominated the import, storage, transportation, marketing and distribution of the island’s petroleum business. Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s Government took over the entire operation setting up a state monopoly thinking the country would save billions in foreign exchange, that the three multinationals continued to siphon out by way of profits.
British and American oil conglomerates Shell, Esso and Caltex had to leave Lankan soils in 1961. Today after 60 years CEYPETCO holds the record as one of Sri Lanka’s most lossmaking SOEs with a cumulative net loss of Rs. 326 billion as of 2018.
In a night TV talk programme last Wednesday, two politicians each representing the Government and the main Opposition, along with a successful businessman and a Senior Professor discussed the importance of seeking IMF assistance as an immediate solution to get over the current crisis.
The former State Minister, [Confined to the second tier by the Yahapalana powers that feared the emergence of potential leaders; a highly qualified decent politician from Kotte, undoubtedly the ideal man to lead the SJB camp], criticized Sirimavo’s act in chasing away the two US oil giants, six decades ago as one of her serious blunders.
He said, Esso, the US giant shifted its operations to a location adjoining present Singapore and was responsible for the Singaporean economic revival.
The draft of Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Act No. 28 of 1961’, unduly worded the section on compensation as, “The amount to be paid under this Bill for property vested in the Corporation shall be the original price incurred by the company for procurement of said property less an allowance for depreciation” -[ Section 47].
American President Eisenhower and subsequently John Kennedy warned us “It could lead to the disintegration of Ceylon’s tea and rubber markets which then were the country’s bread and butter..”, a warning initially drew irate reaction from PM Sirimavo.
"British and American oil conglomerates Shell, Esso and Caltex had to leave Lankan soils in 1961. Today after 60 years CEYPETCO holds the record as one of Sri Lanka’s most lossmaking SOEs with a cumulative net loss of Rs. 326 billion as of 2018"
The three companies backed by the US and the powerful West dominated the global petroleum industry. When all attempts to thwart the nationalization failed, the US threatened to scrap an aid programme, a facility known as PL 480, under which free wheat flour was donated for the mid-day meal of school children. [We called it Gal Bunnis for its hard texture]
However, a few months later the Government acquired the assets of the three oil companies under the enactment and set up the CPC, for every Government over the six decades to ruin this asset for individual benefit. The move neutralized the adverse effect of the OPEC monopoly, allowing Sri Lanka to import oil from the UAE and the USSR [former Soviet Russia]. In 1968, CPC built a new refinery with a capacity of 38,000 barrels per day.
There are inaccuracies in the ex-State Minister’s observation on Esso setting up their facilities on an island in the perimeters of Malaysia-Singapore after being compelled to pack their bags in 1961.
FT Daily Digest – Singapore 27/3/ 2016, reported:
“Oil groups have to ditch Singapore for Malaysia. Giants pulled out of city-state in search of lower overheads amid oil price fall; companies were pulling staff out of Singapore and relocating to Malaysia to cut costs, in a further indication of the damage being caused on the city-state. The cost of land is lower in Malaysia than Singapore, reducing expenditure on commercial buildings and staff housing, cheaper lease of cars.”
The combustion engines using gasoline as fuel began in 1887 when Carl Benz developed an automobile. Esso, the American oil giant’s history in Malay-Singapore borders began as far back as 1893, with Exxon Mobil setting up the Vacuum Oil Company [Standard Oil “Socony”, being its major stakeholder] at Robinson Quay.
They sold kerosene and lubricants under the brand name Mobil Oil. In 1916, it became a subsidiary of Standard Oil, and they set up an office in Collyer Quay highlighting the Pegasus logo [Flying Horse], its first appearances there selling lubricants. With the merge in 1931, it became the Standard-Vacuum Oil Company, “Stanvac”.
It ventured into aviation supply in 1948, and its first service station was opened in 1949, and introduced cooking gas in 1961, under ‘Stangas’. In 1962, Stanvac was disintegrated with assets in Malaysia and Singapore being transferred to now better known as Esso to New Jersey.
The Esso oval replaced the Pegasus logo, and ‘Stangas’ became ‘Esso gas’. However, Stanvac’s other partners formed Mobil Oil Malaysia, and in 1964, they set up the first Mobil service station at Pasir Panjang. The expansion programme was accelerated with Mobil entering refining operations in 1963.
In 1966, its first refinery at Pioneer Road in Jurong which produced 18,000 barrel-per-day, increased ten-fold within 12 years. Today, the capacity of this facility stands at over 300,000 BPD. Exxon and Mobil merged in 1999, making all plants under the ownership of Exxon Mobil. Today, they are one of the major FDI in Singapore with assets exceeding S$25 billion.
With only less than a year’s experience in politics PM Sirimavo, had the astuteness to seek the views of the student population; a choice—free bun or National Sovereignty? Encouraged by her patriotic and radical opinion, 26 out of 29 in my Ordinary Level class decided to sacrifice the mid-day meal and staged a boycott of Eisenhower’s ‘Carrot’ in 1961.
However, only the three who gulped down the ‘Gal Bunnis’, did accurately read the personality traits of future politicians; no doubt one ended in the uppermost pedestals of an International Forum, and the other two at the highest levels on a corporate hierarchy with multinationals.
The writer can be contacted at - kksperera1@gmail.com
