Petroleum Development Authority of Sri Lanka debuts

The petroleum sector’s independent regulatory body formally began operations this week marking a milestone in the efforts to ensure energy security.

The Petroleum Development Authority of Sri Lanka was launched on Monday to ensure that all Sri Lankans benefit from the petroleum resources of the country by managing the industry in an equitable, safe and environmentally sustainable manner.

Its mission is to ‘design and monitor fiscal regimes that meet the country’s evolving economic needs, matching them with a stable, efficient regulatory framework that attracts investment and encourages knowledge transfer, until the last economic reserves are produced.”

The Petroleum Development Authority of Sri Lanka is the successor to the Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat, which was established under the provisions of Petroleum Resources Act No.26 of 2003. The PDASL was established in terms of Petroleum Resources Act No.21 of 2021.

At the launch despite echoing the message that Sri Lanka is all set to begin oil and gas exploration, Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said the country has come to the tipping point at a time when the world is shutting down fossil fuel investments.

“Sri Lanka is too late. We are embarking on gas and oil exploration at a time when the world is saying goodbye to fossil oil. Therefore, attracting investors to the venture has become extremely challenging,” he pointed out.

He cited the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Glasgow where world leaders are discussing withdrawal from fossil fuels to green energy and discouraging any new oil refineries after 2022.

Gammanpila also pointed out that at a time when the entire world has suffered an unprecedented economic setback due to COVID-pandemic, it was extremely challenging to attract investors, particularly as Sri Lanka’s credit rating is at a lower level.

However, the Minister expressed optimism over the new venture, describing it as the only hope of Sri Lanka to overcome the economic crisis that it is faced with. “What we have seen in particular is that African and Latin American countries that discovered oil with high aspirations had oil and gas, but only politicians and bureaucrats became wealthy, not the country. Since we do not want to see Sri Lanka suffer the same fate as Africa and Latin America, we established the PDASL and delegated vested powers to this authority,” he said.

He also said the procedure used to appoint the Board of Directors of this institution was new for Sri Lanka because it employed a novel methodology, adding that over the past year, the Ministry had removed a number of barriers to gas and oil extraction in Sri Lanka and recruited professional level officers to the institute.

Industry veteran Saliya Wickramasuriya is the Chairman of PDASL and Surath Ovitigama is the Director-General of PDASL. Other Board Members include W. J. Shavindra Fernando, Dr. N. P. Wijayananda, J. R.U. de Silva, Chaminda Hettarachchi, Damitha Kumarasinghe, and Dharshani Lankapura. In addition, the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance or his representative will be appointed to the Board.