Russia for oil drilling, hotel project

Indunil HEWAGE

The Sri Lankan government is seeking possible active participation of the Russian government for oil and gas drilling activities in the Mannar basin.

The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Sri Lanka managed to persuade one of the leading Russian conglomerates named Gazprom in the practicability of sending its specialists to Colombo to study the possibilities of carbon exploration offshore the island. If Gazprom agrees to participate in oil drilling activities in Sri Lanka, the company will have to invest at least US $ 500 million for offshore drilling activities, Sri Lanka's Russian Ambassador Vladimir P. Mikhaylov told Daily News Business.

Gazprom is also looking at possibilities to set up several hotels in Sri Lanka and according to the Ambassador, another leading Russian company has expressed willingness to set up a five star hotel in Colombo. Mikhaylov made these views addressing a seminar on Bi-lateral trade between Russia and Sri Lanka held at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce auditorium.

In addition the Russian government is about to sign several agreements with the Sri Lankan government in a bid to widen the tourism industry activities between the two countries.

The Embassy has managed to draw the attention to one of the Russian construction companies to participate in the programme of the Sri Lankan government in the construction of low cost houses and the MOU has been signed and the contract is under discussion now.

Despite the level of economic cooperation between the two countries, the volume of the bilateral trade ranks below the level of these two countries' political relations. However, at present some progress is visible in these spheres as well, the Ambassador said.