Oman oil minister Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhy took part in the planned oil refinery project launch in Sri Lanka
The comments by Rumhy came after an Omani official last week had denied the Middle Eastern country had agreed to invest in the project.
Rumhy joined Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in laying the foundation stone for Hambantota’s planned US$3.85bn oil refinery on the south coast, which would be the largest foreign direct investment on the island.
It was previously stated that Oman’s oil ministry intended to take a 30 per cent stake in the refinery, which will be built near a US$1.4bn port controlled by China Merchants Port Holdings.
“We have Chinese investment, we have Indian investments, we have Oman interest for investment, and we have investment interest from many other countries,” Wickremesinghe added. However, he did not comment on whether Oman planned to have a direct stake in the refinery.
The project will be Sri Lanka’s first new refinery in 52 years after Iran built a 50,000 bpd refinery near the island’s capital city of Colombo to blend Iran light oils.
