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AMUNUGAM SAYS RESPONSE TO GOVERNMENT’S ROAD SHOW IN LONDON TO DISTRIBUTE OIL EXPLORING DATA WAS GOOD

By Walter Jayawardhana

Sri Lanka’s Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Dr. Sarath Amunugama said that his country has received good positive responses from Britain based Petroleum exploring companies to drill for the Indian Ocean island’s untapped Mannar Basin petroleum deposits.

“They said Sri Lanka is the most stable country out of all places where untapped petroleum deposits are known to exist ,” Amunugama told a BBC Sinhala language interviewer in London where he and the country’s Petroleum Minister A.H.M.Fowzie are holding a road show to present data on three blocks of the basin which are offered to prospective explorers.

Amunugama said Sri Lanka’s Mannar Basin seismic data has indicated that the basin has significant potential for hydrocarbon deposits.

Earlier announcements by the Ceylon petroleum Corporation said about one billion barrels of crude lie under the sea off Sri Lanka’s North West Coast, which is known as the Mannar Basin.
After London two more road shows are scheduled to be held in Houston and Kula Lumpur.
Amunugama said the government expected to call tenders by January and actually start exploring after another six months.

The Minister said the prospective explorers whom they met in London have expressed their satisfaction about the government’s method of offering these Mannar basin blocks for oil prospecting .They appreciated the efficient and transparent tender process, he said.

Amunugama said , all over the world , where untapped petroleum deposits have been found , the countries have been found torn with various political conflicts and out of all places Sri Lanka is the most stable place. He said that fact should be an added reason to lure investors.

In the 1960’s under the premiership of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike the Russians were invited to drill test wells at Pesalai, Mannar . Although, the equipment then were unable to indicate accurately , experts say, the oil prospecting technology is far more advanced today.

Ceylon Petroleum Corporation said, “however, recent seismic data have indicated that the basin has significant potential for hydrocarbon accumulations. According to the reports by the Government, seismic data shows more than 1.0 billion barrels of oil lie under the sea off Sri Lanka's northwest coast, though no reserves have yet been proven. If proven, the reserves would be a major boost for the country, which produces no oil and imported $2.1 billion worth in 2006.”

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