The first-ever airborne geophysical surveying services for oil exploration in Sri Lanka have kicked off over two blocks in the Mannar and Cauvery Basins.
The airborne geophysical surveying was conducted by UK-based Bell Geospace to provide 3D Full Tensor Gradiometry, gravity, and magnetic survey data on the two Basins.
Bell Geospace has been awarded exclusive rights to acquire and provide industry-defining multi-client Gravity Gradiometry data for Sri Lanka by the Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat of Sri Lanka (PRDS).
The Sri Lanka FTG Multi-Client Programme includes airborne 3D Full Tensor Gradiometry, gravity, and magnetic survey data that will be undertaken over the shallow waters of the Mannar and Cauvery basins over blocks M1, C1, and C2.
Addressing the media yesterday, Minister of Energy Udaya Gammanpila invited foreign private companies to engage in the project to explore and produce oil and natural gas from the two blocks in the Mannar and Cauvery Basins.
Stating that the Government hopes to pass the Petroleum Resources Bill in Parliament, he said thereafter, the Petroleum Development Authority of Sri Lanka will be established next month.
Minister Gammanpila further said that Sri Lanka can settle the total debt of the country via the oil and gas resources earnings from the Mannar Basin.
He added that according to the agreement signed between Sri Lanka and Bell Geospace, Sri Lanka will benefit three ways from collecting data from the exploration.
“It is also a foreign exchange generating project,” the Minister told reporters. (NewsWire)