Cairn India to Get Another Block in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka will allot another exploration block to Cairn India, reports Indian newspaper Business Standard.

The newspaper adds that the company will also sign gas supply deal with three power plants, a first for Sri Lanka.

“There were only two bidders for the current round of auction. Cairn India bid for M5 block in Mannar and Singapore-based Bonavista bid for Cauvery blocks C2 and C3. Both the bids are good and have high work-up plans. As there are no competitors, once the technical process is over, we would finalise and sign it (the agreement) by March,” Saliya Wickramasuriya, Director-General of the Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS), told Business Standard.

Cairn India holds a block in the Mannar basin expected to start gas production by 2017-18.

Price of the gas that Cairn India will supply to three power plants was likely to be import-linked, Business Standard reports.

Cairn had discovered two successive gas and condensate deposits in the Dorado and Barracuda wells in the Mannar basin.

Sri Lanka’s second licensing round had closed on November 29, with only Cairn and Bonavista submitting bids.

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