Iran to invest in expansion project of Sri Lankan oil refinery

Sri Lankan Oil Minister said Wednesday in an interview with Japan's Kyodo news agency Iran has decided to increase its investment in expansion project of an oil refinery there up to one billion US dollars.

According to IRNA office in Tokyo, A. H. M. Fowzi added in his interview with Kyodo, "Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has allocated this amount to the purpose, which would cover 70% of the require investment for the refinery's expansion, in form of a ten year loan, with a five year exemption period from payment of the loan's installments."
Fowzi added, "Iran had earlier, too, provided the oil we need in Sri Lanka free from interest for four months."
According to this report, Iran is the largest provider of crude oil for Sri Lanka.

According to Kyodo's report, the Managing Director of Sri Lanka's state run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), Ashanta Domel, too, has said that the pilot study for increasing the production of Sri Lanka's only refinery from 50,000 to 100,000 barrels per day has been completed by Iranian oil engineers.

Domel added, "Iran would make the major part of the required investment for expansion of this oil refinery (70%) and the CPC would cover the rest (30%)."
The Sri Lankan Oil Minister added in his interview with Kyodo that the project would yield noticeable benefit for its investors, adding, from the economic point of view, my affiliated ministry, too, is interested in making investments there."
According to Kyodo, Domel who visited Iran in early April, 2008, expects the project's executive phase to begin within the next three to four months.

Oil experts predict that Sri Lanka's oil refinery would increase its production after the Iranian oil engineers would end their work here within the next two to three years.

Islamic Republic of Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to have a two day state visit to Sri Lanka on April 28th and 29th.

Ahmadinejad would during the state visit meet his Sri Lankan counterpart, that country's prime minister and minister of foreign affairs.

Source: irna.com