Govt to expedite oil quest
Rajmi Manatunga
COLOMBO: Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Development
Minister A.H.M. Fowzie will meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa next week
to discuss the Government's future programme for exploring oil deposits
along the Sri Lankan sea belt.
"During this discussion we hope to draw up the Government's future
course of action regarding oil exploration and the task of conducting
seismic surveys in the sea which would stop following the exit of the
Norwegian company," Minister Fowzie told the Daily News.
The process to be followed in calling tenders for the eight blocks in
the Northern and Eastern seas earmarked for oil exploration is also
among the issues to be taken up at the meeting. Fowzie said the
Government has sent proposals to TGS NOPEC for terminating the agreement
whereby the company had undertaken to carry out two dimensional and
three dimensional seismic surveys in the sea.
"The company has submitted certain amendments to these proposals.
Once the paperwork is completed we will take steps to pay the agreed
amount of compensation and obtain the seismic data they have collected.
Then the Government can take over and carry the surveys forward," he
said. |