Iran agrees to build new refinery for Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, (Reuters) - Iran has agreed to build a new oil refinery for Sri Lanka in addition to upgrading its
Iranian officials pledged the new refinery when Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena made an official visit to Tehran over the weekend, the first leader to go to Iran since U.S. President Donald Trump reimposed U.S. economic sanctions.
"They even agreed to help Sri Lanka to build a new refinery," Senaratne told Reuters when asked if Sri Lanka sought assistance to refurbish its current refinery.
"We only spoke about the concepts and they promised to send a team (for further talks)."
Senaratne did not elaborate how the Sri Lankan government would deal with Iranian financial transactions in the face of U.S. sanctions.
Sri Lanka has a single, 50,000
The existing refinery accounts for 30 percent of Sri Lanka's fuel requirement, but the head of CPC last week said that upgrading "may not be the solution" because Sri Lanka needs a refinery capable of handling all types of crude.
Iran's offer comes as Chinese, Middle East
Two Chinese companies have jointly bid for a 100,000
Sri Lanka is still in talks about the Hambantota refinery, though the government has blocked a proposal by the Chinese companies to sell fuel locally.
Sri Lanka has also discussed another 100,000
Comments