Cairn finds Lanka’s first natural gas prospects

Cairn Lanka said on Sunday it has discovered natural gas in Sri Lanka's offshore Mannar Basin, confirming an earlier announcement by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"Further drilling will be required to establish the commerciality of the discovery," Cairn India said in a statement from New Delhi, referring to the find at the CLPL-Dorado-91H/1z well drilled at a water depth of 1,354 metres.

Cairn Lanka is a fully owned unit of Cairn India, which itself is a subsidiary of UK's Cairn Energy Plc, holds a 100-per cent participating interest in the Mannar block.

In Sri Lanka, the president himself announced the first gas find in the country's history. "I have been informed that a gas deposit has been found as a result of our oil exploration work", Rajapaksa told a political gathering in the central town of Kandy. "With more luck and blessings we hope we can find oil."

Cairn had spud the well in early August and natural gas was discovered a few days back.

"A gross 25 metres hydrocarbon column" was tested, it said. CLPL-Dorado-91H/1z is the first well to be drilled in Sri Lanka in 30 years and the first well to discover hydrocarbons in the country.