Hardly a fortnight after Cairn India moved into Sri Lanka to drill the depths of the Gulf of Mannar, a team from Russian oil major Gazprom arrived here.
“The delegation called on the President on Tuesday,” Bandula Jayasekara, Presidential spokesman, wrote in the micro-blogging site, twitter.
Earlier, G. L. Peiris, Minister of External Affairs, met the eight-member delegation led by Gazprom International Managing Director Gulev Veleriy. Ambassador of the Russian Federation in Sri Lanka Vladimir P. Mikhaylov facilitated the meeting.
Gazprom is one of the world's largest energy companies. Its major business lines are geological exploration, production, transportation, storage, processing and marketing of hydrocarbons as well as generation and marketing of heat and electric power.
“Prof. Peiris discussed with the visiting delegation issues connected with Russian cooperation in such fields as oil exploration in the Mannar Basin and the Cauvery Basin, the procurement of liquid natural gas, and technical expertise in respect of refineries,” a press release from the Ministry said.
The visiting delegation said Gazprom would bear the expenses of training a team of Sri Lankans in one of Russia's leading institutions in the field of oil and gas technology.
In June, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa had invited Gazprom to partner in achieving self-sufficiency in petroleum products. A decision on which blocks would be allotted to Gazprom in the Gulf of Mannar is likely to be taken once Gazprom conducts its due diligence. Indian oil giants ONGC and Cairn India have already been allowed to prospect the Gulf of Mannar for oil. Petronas, the Malaysia-based oil major, has also expressed interest.
