Sri Lanka invites bids for oil exploration in Mannar basin

12 October 2011: Sri Lanka plans to call for a competitive bid soon to explore oil in the remaining blocks of the Mannar Basin. The government will now launch a bidding round for the remaining five blocks in couple of months.

The Block SL 2007-01-001, one of the eight blocks in Mannar basin slated for oil exploration was awarded to Cairn in the 2008 Sri Lanka bid round. Another two blocks have been granted to China and India. Cairn signed the Petroleum Resource Agreement (PRA) with the Sri Lankan government in July 2008 to explore oil and natural gas in the Mannar Basin with an investment of US$110 million (approx Rs 539 crore), spread over three years.

Source: Colombopage