Cairn India signs investment commitment for Mannar Basin exploration with Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka Board of Investment, the governing body for promoting industrial investments in the country and Cairn Lanka (Private) Limited, wholly owned subsidiary of Cairn India has entered into an agreement yesterday for a commitment of an initial investment of over $110 million oil and gas exploration in the Mannar Basin.

The aqgreement is for exploration in  offshore Block SL 2007-01-001 North West of Sri Lanka spread over approximately 3,000 square km in water depths of 200 metres to 1800 metres in the Mannar basin.

Earlier in July this year Cairn India had received the licence to explore for oil and natural gas in the Mannar Basin. (See:Cairn India signs oil exploration agreement with Sri Lanka) 

The Block SL 2007-01-001 was awarded to Cairn India in the recent Sri Lanka bid round. The work programme includes proposals to acquire 5,000 km of 2D, 1,000 km2 of 3D seismic and drill three wells in the initial three years of the eight year exploration period.

The Mannar basin is a frontier petroleum province that is yet to be explored.

Cairn India will invest $100 million for the first phase of oil exploration through a newly established wholly-owned subsidiary, Cairn Lanka (Private) Limited, which would hold a 100 per cent participating interest in the block. The first phase of exploration is for three years, during which cairn plans to get seismic data before drilling three wells.