India expresses desire to join oil and gas exploration here

By Saman Indrajith

Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila told Parliament on Wednesday (9) that India had expressed its desire to join Sri Lanka’s oil and gas exploration efforts.

The Minister said so responding to a question by SLPP MP Mohamad Muzammil, who demanded to know whether assistance from a foreign country or private sector would be sought. “There have been reports that Sri Lanka has oil and gas deposits. If those reports are true it is essential that we should excavate and make use of that resource. Is there a time frame when this will actually happen,” the MP asked.

Minister Gammanpila said that there was no confirmation on the number of deposits. “It has been identified that we have oil and gas deposits in the Mannar, Kaveri, and Lanka basins. The entire area has been divided into 873 blocks and surveying of those blocks is in progress. The map, containing the details of those blocks, has been published in the gazette No 2238 dated July 22, 2021. A scientific assessment has been done with regard to the situation in Mannar basin. As per that assessment that deposit has two billion barrels of crude oil and nine trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The excavation involves a massive cost and it should involve a strong legal and financial framework. There should be a clear understanding of the role and operations of the regulating body of this process. For that purpose, we have passed the Petroleum Resources Act No. 21 of 2021 in October, 2021 in Parliament. On the basis of the provisions of that Act we have set up the Sri Lanka Petroleum Resources Development Authority. We have also set up Lanka Petroleum Corporation under the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation to lead the excavation processes. We have made arrangements for the preparation of the infrastructure for the process of excavation. India has commenced talks with Sri Lanka to be involved in the oil exploration and excavation process. In addition to that, I would visit the US to attend one of the largest energy summits in the world to be held on March 07 and invite private investors at the summit to join oil and gas exploration efforts. We hope to auction the M2 block in the Mannar basin for excavation on March 22. We’ll select a company for the excavation at the auction and within a nine to 12 months period, the excavation process will start.”