A consortium of India’s Petronet LNG and Japanese compatriots Mitsubishi and Sojitz will reportedly team up with a domestic company for a liquefied natural gas floating storage and regasification in Sri Lanka that would be the nation’s first import venture, writes Amanda Battersby.

The international consortium plans to invest some $300 million on the FSRU, which will be deployed near Colombo on Sri Lanka’s west coast.

The project now envisages capacity of between 2.6 million and 2.7 million tonnes per annum, considerably more than maximum 2 million tpa that was originally touted.

“We are in the process of signing the memorandum of understanding with the Sri Lankan government for setting up of the LNG terminal,” Petronet chief executive Prabhat Singh was quoted as saying by the Economic Times.

“Once the MoU is signed this month, some project related studies will be done before beginning work on the terminal. Commercial details, such as the exact size of the plant and investment, will be worked out in the detailed feasibility report.”

The LNG import project is expected to be completed in two years “after the initial formalities” Petronet earlier said.

Regasified volumes will be supplied to various power plants and other customers, including the transportation sector.

Petronet will hold a 47.5% stake in the project consortium, the Japanese duo will have 37.5% and the unnamed Sri Lankan entity will take up a 15% interest.

Weekly

Sri Lankan FSRU team forms