Cairn to begin oil drilling in August
Sanjeevi Jayasuriya
Cairn India, majority held by Cairn Energy, will start drilling for
oil in the Mannar basin in August. Commercial production will take
another six years or more to find oil.
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Oil drilling |
Sri Lanka has awarded one of the eight blocks to Cairn Lanka, a
subsidiary of Cairn India with an area of 3,000 square kilometres.
"We will drill three wells in four months after the drilling process
is completed we will be able to say if there is oil and gas in the basin
and it will take another two years to assess how much oil and gas are
there, if any. Altogether, if there is oil, it will take a minimum of
six years to start commercial production, Cairn India Geosciences Head
Stuart Burley said. The Mannar basin is the logical extension of the
strategy in oil exploration. This basin is relatively unknown and is a
high potential area. There is no commercial hydrocarbons, but indication
of gas in the wells and the presence of a source rock give hope for gas
and oil, he said.
The source rock is a good indication that it will be able to produce
oil and gas. The oil and gas exploration is different and it is risky,
uncertain and data poor business. It involves high investment and also
it is a high gain industry, he said.
Currently there is a three and a half kilometre drilling in the
Mannar basin.
Sri Lanka gave one block each to India and China in 2007, but neither
responded positively. The country plans to award other blocks as well by
tender. |
