Sri Lanka to Plans to Offer Oil Blocks for Joint Study
From Lanka Business
Sri Lanka is planning to offer up to 11 off-shore oil blocks on production sharing deals in a bidding round that will close around September and others where less data is available for joint study, a media report said.
The blocks that are to be offered on production sharing agreements are on Sri Lanka’s Mannar basin, to the east and northeast of the island.
A further five blocks are located around the northern tip of the island, in the Cauvery Basin, in a strip of sea separating the island from India, where oil has already been found on the Indian side.
The production sharing agreement in deeper waters will have more incentives for developers.
“But at the same time, we are introducing the concept of joint study acreage, for which we have earmarked certain very large areas in offshore Sri Lanka in which there is no data at all and very little knowledge of subsurface conditions,” the Daily Mirror quoted Wikramasuriya as saying.
“It’s very deep, so production potential is in the future. Those we want to bring to the market as joint study blocks where we encourage investment in research, data acquisition, information gathering and study jointly with the government.”
Wickramasuriya said applications will be considered on prior experience in similar areas, reputation and financial capability.
If the company finds enough data to proceed, it can negotiate a production sharing contract or if the areas is blocked up and offered for bidding it will have the right of first refusal.
The larger areas proposed for joint study curves around the south and east of the island in a map posted on the petroleum secretariat.
