Saudi King invited to Lanka

Rashomi Silva

COLOMBO: With pledges of assistance for oil exploration in Sri Lanka from Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil provider, President Mahinda Rajapaksa invited Saudi King Abdulla Bin Abdul Aziz, to visit Sri Lanka. The invitation was sent through Petroleum Resources Development Minister A.H.M. Fowzie, during his recent visit to the Saudi Kingdom, the Minister said.

Saudi Arabia, which also owns one-fourth of the world's oil reserves has agreed to provided Sri Lanka technical know-how, Fowzie told a press conference at his Ministry yesterday.

"King Aziz expressed great satisfaction over the success of downstream and upstream activities of the petroleum industry in Sri Lanka and pledged his assistance to explore oil resources in Sri Lankan territorial waters," Fowzie said.

The Minister also met Sheikh Naimi, the Oil Minister of Saudi who agreed to provide technology, training and expertise for oil exploration.

A top CPC official said T.S.G. Norpack, a reputed Australian oil company had found very encouraging signs in a studies conducted in the Gulf of Mannar.

"The geo-physical structure of the Gulf of Mannar is encouraging. It is also believed that there is a large oil deposit in the waters in the Sri Lankan coastal region lying in Cauvey Basin," the official explained.