Cairn India has discovered natural gas in two wells in Sri Lanka's offshore Mannar basin, demonstrating the presence of hydrocarbons, although their commercial viability has yet to be determined. The company is expected to start another phase of exploration in Mannar basin soon.
However, Sri Lankan government now plans to auction these oil exploration blocks in the western Mannar basin and the northern Cauvery basin by mid-year, after finishing talks with India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation on exploration rights.
Sri Lanka produces no oil and is dependent on imports, which cost it $4.6 billion in 2011. Since the end of a 25-year war with Tamil separatists three years ago, the government has tried to reinvigorate oil and gas exploration.
Cairn India is one of the biggest private sector exploration and production companies in India. It has employee strength of 650 people. The company has two processing plants, 11 platforms, 200 km of sub-sea pipelines and operations spreading across the Indian sub-continent.
Company Name | CMP |
---|---|
ONGC | 245.45 |
Oil India | 507.20 |
Jindal Drilling&Inds | 744.70 |
Hind Oil Exploration | 187.30 |
Deep Industries | 504.55 |
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