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Sri Lanka commences oil exploration in Mannar basin
8 August 2011: Cairn Lanka commenced on 6 August 2011drilling for oil in the Mannar basin off Sri Lanka's northwestern coast.
The basin is to hold around one billion barrels of oil. The Company has contracted a deep-water drill ship from a Japanese company to launch the project. According to the Agreement, Cairn will start exploration activities in one of the 8 blocks in the Mannar Basin which covers 3,400 sq. km. at depths between 200 to 1,800 meters.
The company conducted a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as required by the Sri Lanka Central Environmental Authority and Marine Pollution Prevention Authority. Mannar basin has eight oil and gas exploration blocks and two of them have been granted to China and India. Russia's largest oil company, Gazprom also has indicated plans to take part in the exploration of offshore oil in the Mannar basin.
Source: Colombo page