TikTok Showing President AKD Claiming To Have Sold Oil Tanks From Trincomalee To India Is Misleading

A TikTok post is being widely shared in the wake of the fuel crisis in Sri Lanka, in which President Anura Kumara Dissanayake can be heard saying that the country has given away a large number of oil tanks to India. 

The video, posted on March 6, 2026, shows Dissanayake as saying ,”99 oil tanks in Trincomalee are too many for Sri Lanka, we only need 24. We took them to our Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and gave the rest to India.” The Sinhala text on the bottom of the video reads, “[This President] has sold oil tanks.”

We also found the claim on YouTube.

As the statement does not align with the government’s current policy to ensure uninterrupted supply of fuel to citizens and businesses, Newschecker decided to look into the veracity of this claim. Upon investigation, we found the video to be old and therefore misleading. 

Evidence

1. We first did a reverse image search of multiple keyframes of the video and confirmed that the video was from a meeting held in Katukurunda, Kalutara, on January 19, 2025, where Dissanayake spoke to the audience at length about their plans for his upcoming term. A full livestream of the meeting is available on Dissanayake’s verified YouTube channel here:

Twenty-five minutes into the video, Dissanayake explains that 61 oil tanks from the Trincomalee oil yard have been given to India under an agreement to further develop the yard for the betterment of both countries. 

2. An English summary of the speech on LankaENews states: 

“The President assured Sri Lankan Taxpayers 61 Trinco Oil Tanks, which will be utilised for the Indo-Lanka Joint Refinery Project, which will be exported to other countries. The rest of the Trinco Oil tanks will be shared by Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the [Lanka] IOC for the domestic operations.” This shows that the Government has not sold oil tanks to India, but has merely been working with India in collaboration to develop them under this agreement.

3. Upon further research, we found out that the decision pertained to a 2025 extension of an agreement between India and Sri Lanka that had been in place since 2022. Before the economic crisis, the India and Sri Lanka jointly owned Trinco Petroleum Terminal (Private) Company was formed, and an agreement between the two countries was signed on January 6, 2022 by the then-presiding Gotabaya Rajapaksa Government. 

An Ada Derana news report from January 6, 2022 states,

“The Cabinet of Ministers on Monday had given its approval to the proposal tabled by the Minister of Power, for the implementation of Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm development project with India. Thereby, 61 tanks at the oil storage complex will be jointly developed by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and Lanka IOC as a joint venture.”

This is further supported by another news report on Daily FT, published on March 5, 2025, which confirms that the newly appointed Cabinet has decided to extend the same agreement.

As a result, we were able to confirm that the video on TikTok is old and from January 2025 when the Government decided to work with India to develop the Trincomalee oil tank yard by extending an agreement which was first entered into in 2022. 

Context

Currently, due to the emerging war between the US-Israel and Iran, many countries, including Sri Lanka, are facing a fuel crisis. The current Sri Lankan government has taken many measures to control the fuel supply, by introducing a quota-based fuel system, a license plate-based system, and continuing discussions with countries such as Russia to import fuel. As a result, discussions are taking place on social media about different statements made by members of the current government about fuel supply. The video shows Dissanayake referring to a joint development agreement between India and Sri Lanka, which has wrongly been portrayed as a sale.

Verdict

The video claiming that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake ‘sold oil tanks to India’ is an excerpt from a speech given by the President at a meeting in Katukurunda, Kalutara, on January 19, 2025, and the agreement he speaks of is unrelated to the current fuel crisis in Sri Lanka.

FAQs 

Q1. What does the video show? 
The video shows President Anura Kumara Dissanayake explaining how 99 oil tanks at the Trincomalee fuel tank yard are too many for Sri Lanka and how the Government plans to join with India to develop some of the tanks. 

Q2. When was the TikTok posted?
March 6, 2026

Q3. When did Dissanayake’s original speech in the video take place? 
January 19, 2025

Q4. Has the Sri Lankan government sold oil tanks from Trincomalee to India?
No. The Sri Lankan government has agreed with India, whereby a joint company can develop oil and oil tanks for the future increase of regional oil reserves. 

Our Sources

‘Full Speech | කටුකුරුන්ද සුහද හමුව | Anura Kumara Dissanayake’, published on Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s verified YouTube channel, January 19, 2025
‘Cabinet green lights Trincomalee oil tank development’, published in DailyFT, March 5, 2025
‘ “None of My Ministers or MPs Will Engage in Corruption” -President Anura Kumara’s Bold Promise in Kalutara..!’ published in Lanka ENews, January 19, 2025
‘Sri Lanka, India ink agreement to jointly develop Trinco oil tanks’, published in Ada Derana, January 6, 2022