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Tuesday, 28 July 2015 00:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Following the exit of Cairn India from offshore oil exploration in Sri Lanka’s Mannar basin, three major oil companies have expressed interest in continuing Cairn’s work.
Power and Energy Ministry Secretary B.M.S. Batagoda said bids had been received from three global oil companies - Total, Shell and ExxonMobil - for exploration in the Mannar Basin.
The bids had been received after an open tender was called when Cairns Lanka decided to end its operations in Sri Lanka.
Cairn Lanka, a subsidiary of Cairn India Ltd. (CIL), one of the leading independent exploration and production companies globally, announced in April that a nearly 50% drop in crude oil prices had forced Cairn India to exit its operations in Sri Lanka.
Following Cabinet approval, the Government has floated bids to select an investor to commercially develop the natural gas deposits found in the two wells of block SL 2007-01-001 in the Mannar Basin.
According to Dr. Batagoda, the two wells in the basin had yielded two trillion cubic meters of natural gas which would be sufficient to meet the demand of the country for ten years. Furthermore, the natural gas would be used to run the power plants at Kerawalapitya and Kelanitissa
The new tender will be awarded for 20 blocks in the Mannar basin while a separate tender will be called for work on the data obtained by Cairns during its exploration.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet has decided to give the tender for the exploration for oil and natural gas off the eastern coast of Sri Lanka to Total, a leading French company, the Sunday Times reported.
The company will gain exclusive rights for scanning, data collection and mapping in the seas off the eastern coast.
Dr. Batagoda said that this would be the first time that gas and oil exploration will take place in the eastern seas.
