Russia's Gazprom to Build a Hotel in Sri Lanka in order to Promote Tourism between the Two Countries

20th January 2012, www.dailynews.lk, By Hemanthi Guguge

A leading company in Russia, Gazprom expresses its willingness to construct a hotel in Sri Lanka, in order to promote tourism between Sri Lanka and Russia.

This hotel would comprise more than 200 rooms, with all the facilities.

Tourist arrivals from Russia has sharply increased since 2011 and plans are under way to increase the number of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka from 23,000 in 2011 to 50,000 by the end of 2012.

Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga told Daily News Business that, Sri Lanka has drawn up plans to promote market tourism and Russia is ideal for this. Russia was listed seventh on the listed highest spending market.

There has been a sharp increase of tourist arrivals from Russia to Sri Lanka due to the commencement of direct airlines from Sri Lanka to Russia.

Aerosvit is being operated three times a week from Kyiv to Colombo and Aeroflot being operated twice a week from Moscow to Colombo. SriLankan Airlines has commenced a flight between Colombo and Moscow since last September.

This flight via Dubai is scheduled twice a week.

These three aircraft is capable of accommodating more than 1,000 passengers per week.

Sri Lankan Embassy in Russia has taken measures to introduce a tourist guidebook in Sri Lanka to promote tourism.

There is a shortage of Russian speaking people in Sri Lanka and it is a major disadvantage of promoting tourism between Sri Lanka and Russia.

Tourism is among the main drivers of economic growth, major tourist attractions focused around the island are the famous beaches located in the southern and eastern part of the country.

Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals increased by 30 percent to 855,975 from January to December 2011, compared to 2010. Tourist arrivals are expected to increase sharply over the next few years due to intensive marketing of Sri Lanka as a world-class tourist destination.


Related Info :

• 11 International Airlines Fly Back to Sri Lanka since the End of War in 2009

• Sri Lanka Tourist Arrivals in December 2011 Up by 15.2pct

One Billion Barrels of Oil in Sri Lanka Mannar Basin - Director General of Sri Lanka's Petroleum Resources

14th March 2011, www.dailymirror.lk

The Director General of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Neil De Silva has said that the Mannar Basin could hold over 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

Cairn Lanka which is expected to commence oil drilling in the Mannar Basin by July this year, believes there is more work to be done in the frontier basin to assess the magnitude of resources.

“If Sri Lanka’s drilling program is successful, commercial oil production can be expected by 2014 with a billion barrels,” a recent report on Cairn India’s Oil drilling future quoted Dr. Neil De Silva as saying.

The report said that Cairn India has contracted a deepwater rig from Japan Drilling to embark on a three-well exploration drilling campaign in its frontier deepwater block in Sri Lanka’s Mannar basin (SL-2007-01-001) in June 2011. The exploration area is 3000 sq km with water depths ranging from 400 metres to 1900 metres.

Cairn Lanka, a subsidiary of Cairn India had signed the Petroleum Resource Agreement (PRA) with the Sri Lankan government in July 2008 to explore oil and natural gas in the Mannar Basin with an investment of US $110 million, spread over three years.

According to the Agreement, Cairn will start exploration activities in one of the 8 blocks in the Mannar Basin and the company will conducted a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as required by the Sri Lanka Central Environmental Authority and Marine Pollution Prevention Authority. Earlier in 2010, the company had also acquired 3D seismic data on 1,750 km2 area of the Mannar basin.

Mannar basin’s two oil blocks have been granted to China and India. Russia’s largest oil company, Gazprom also has indicated plans to join the exploration of offshore oil in Sri Lanka’s Mannar basin.

Related Info :

• Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS) - Petroleum Potential Offshore Sri Lanka

• Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS) - Exploration History

• Cairn to Start Drilling for Oil & Gas off Sri Lanka’s Northwestern Coast in July

• Sri Lanka Oil Exploration in Mannar Basin on Schedule. Tenders for more Blocks by End January

Russia’s Gas Giant Gazprom Plans Oil Exploration in Sri Lanka

08th February 2010, www.dailymirror.lk

Russia’s gas giant Gazprom plans to take part in exploration of offshore hydrocarbon fields in Sri Lanka. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is visiting Moscow, discussed this issue at the talks on Monday.

“The parties discussed prospects for Russian-Sri Lankan cooperation in the oil and gas sector,” the gas giant’s information department said. “In particular, they focused on Gazprom’s possible participation in the development of offshore hydrocarbon deposits in Sri Lanka.”

According to the Sri Lankan government, the republic has eight oil and gas blocs in the Mannar basin, northwestern coast.