Sri Lanka has no immediate plans to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from India, as the required infrastructure including storage facilities is yet to be built, Energy Minister, engineer Kumara Jayakody said on Tuesday (23).

India announced last year (2024) that it would supply LNG to Sri Lanka’s power plants and work on cross-border energy connectivity, including a petroleum pipeline and power grid link.

“We have to first build the storage facility. Construction has not commenced yet,” said Jayakody while speaking to the Reuters on the sidelines of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s energy summit in New Delhi.

Sri Lanka is yet to finalise the LNG contract procurement with India, he said.

He said that it would take at least three years to complete the construction of the storage infrastructure, and that imports would begin only after that.

While discussions to build storage had taken place under the previous Government, no contracts have been finalised, he added.

“We are studying the earlier content, deciding the location, and evaluating the loan and pricing aspects,” Jayakody said.

The Indian State-run firm Petronet LNG had last year signed a deal to supply LNG to the Sri Lankan engineering firm LTL Holdings’ power plants in Colombo.

He said that both the countries have formed a team and are working on submitting prospective reports about the planned work of developing a cross-border transmission system from Southern India to the island’s north.

(CAN)