Deal for new Sri Lanka oil refinery will take at least a year to finalise – Investor
NEW DELHI/COLOMBO: An agreement to build a proposed US$ 3.85 billion oil refinery in Sri Lanka will take at least a year to be finalized as its main investor, India’s Accord Group, says it is yet to recruit partners and conduct an assessment of the plan’s viability.
The comments add to confusion about the project, which was announced last week by the Sri Lankan government as the nation’s largest single foreign direct investment ever, but has since been the subject of conflicting statements by various parties.
Ac c or d’s cha i rma n
SJagatrakshakan, a former Indian government minister, said he has submitted a preliminary proposal to the Sri Lankan government to invest in the project but has not finalized any terms of the deal.
“The project assessment and financial viability assessment will take at least a year. We have not sorted out any of the equity partners for the projects, but are in talks with investors from many countries,” he told Reuters over the phone from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The 68-year old politician is campaigning in Tamil Nadu for a seat in the current general
election. He was an MP and minister in the last Congress-led government in 2009-2014.
When the Sri Lankan g ove r n ment made t he announcement on March 19, it said the oil refinery would be a joint venture between Oman’s oil ministry and Accord and cost US$ 3.85 billion.
A day later, Omani officials denied involvement in the project, but the middle eastern country’s oil minister arrived in Sri Lanka three days later and said he was ‘excited’ to inaugurate the project though there was no indication of a firm deal in place. — Reuters