Oman oil minister excited to be part of Sri Lanka oil refinery project (updated)

China Merchants Port Holdings

24/03/2019 08:24

* Oil refinery largest foreign investment in Sri Lanka 
    * Oman minister gives no details of investment in refinery
    * Sri Lanka senior minister says Oman committed to
participation

 (Updates with Oman minister comments, details)
    By Shihar Aneez
    HAMBANTOTA, Sri Lanka, March 24 (Reuters) - Oman's oil
minister said on Sunday he was excited to be part of a Sri Lanka
oil refinery project in a sign that plans for the sultanate's
involvement may be back on track.
    Sri Lanka said last week that Oman Oil Co had made clear it
was interested in taking a 30 percent stake in the new refinery
on Sri Lanka's south coast. 
    But an Omani official denied the Middle Eastern country had
agreed to invest in the project.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2182FJ
    Rumhy joined Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe
at the laying of the foundation stone for the planned $3.85
billion oil refinery at Hambantota on the south coast, which
would potentially be the island's biggest foreign direct
investment.
    "This is not a project just for three years. This is a life
long project," Rumhy said at the launch ceremony held at the
Mirijjawala investment zone in Hambantota. "We will work very
hard to deliver this project to the people of Sri Lanka." 
    However, he did not comment on whether Oman planned to have
a direct stake in the refinery.
    The refinery will be built near a $1.4 billion port
controlled by China Merchants Port Holdings  0144.HK .
    The India-based Accord Group is the main investor in the
refinery project, through a Singapore entity it controls.
    The project will be Sri Lanka's first new refinery in 52
years after Iran built a 50,000 barrel-per-day refinery near the
island's capital city of Colombo to blend Iran light oils.
    The new refinery will export all products it refines,
officials have said.
   "We have Chinese investment, we have Indian investments, we
have Oman interest for investment, and we have investment
interest from many other countries," Wickremesinghe said at the
event. "It shows that Hambantota will become the multinational
investment zone."
    A senior Sri Lankan minister, who declined to be identified
because he is not authorised to talk to the media, told Reuters
Oman had given a commitment to invest in the refinery and there
would not be any turning back.
    But on Wednesday, Salim al-Aufi, the undersecretary of
Oman's oil and gas ministry, said "no one on this side" was
aware of the investment.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2173JX
    Sri Lanka's investment board said last week that another
Oman entity, Oman Trading International, was willing to supply
all of the refinery's feedstock needs and take on the marketing
of the oil products it would produce.
    India and China have been vying for political influence in
Sri Lanka in recent years, with investment a key part of the
battleground.
    China is the biggest buyer of Omani oil. In January it
imported about 80 percent of Oman's crude exports, Oman
government data shows.
    An investment zone is planned by China Harbour Engineering
Corp alongside the port.

 (Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Writing by Swati Bhat; Edited by
Martin Howell/Neil Fullick/Jane Merriman)
 ((swati.bhat@thomsonreuters.com; twitter.com/swatibhat22;
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