Sri Lanka to award one more block in Mannar Basin to Cairn India - Report

Jan 15, Colombo: Sri Lanka plans to award a one more exploratory block in Mannar Basin to Cairn India, an Indian business report has said.

A senior Sri Lankan official quoted by the Business Standards has said that the block M5 would be awarded to Cairn Lanka by March this year.

Cairn Lanka, which made gas discoveries in two of the four exploration wells it was awarded, expects production from the country's offshore gas fields starting as early as 2016.

Cairn successfully discovered two successive gas and condensate deposits in the wells Dorado and Barracuda in the offshore Block SL 2007-01-001 in the Mannar Basin.

The Dorado discovery is up for development with first gas officially expected in 2017-18 while Barracuda is being further assessed, according to Cairn. The Company estimates reserves of 74 million barrels of oil equivalent at the two sites.

The Company last month told Rigzone that they are engaged in appraisal planning and commercial discussions with the Sri Lankan government for monetizing the discovered gas resources and have recently secured an extension to the current exploration phase to April 2014.
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_14A/Jan15_1389773146CH.php

Whoa!!!!!!!

Now is it confirmed that the wells are commercially viable and we are going to pump out 74 million barrels of gas??? Why is this not headlines yet!!!!!!!!!!!         

Cheers!

444 mmcf of natural gas (6*74). Not a huge reserve but ok for the size of country.

Another good news in 2014 ( after $1 billion bond)

UK boy this is just one block.. There are many blocks to drill and chances are good..

Cairn has bid for another block and i dont think they would do so if they did not see any potential

Cheers!

I am wondering why the commercial viability of the Cairns find has not been publicised as yet?? Hmmmm

Or maybe Colombopage is bluff??

Cheers!

Maybe
a) the actual quantiry/amount is not confirmed yet
b) there are "politics"/deals to be made before this news /deal is made public
c) news is made before it is viable or official

@Rapaport wrote:I am wondering why the commercial viability of the Cairns find has not been publicised as yet?? Hmmmm

Or maybe Colombopage is bluff??

Cheers!

@Rapaport wrote:UK boy this is just one block..  There are many blocks to drill and chances are good..

Cairn has bid for another block and i dont think they would do so if they did not see any potential

Cheers!

Yes. Rapaport. You got a valid point there.
I'm looking forward to see how the discussions with Sl government is going to happen.
Hope India (& UK) politics towards us will be tamed a bit if we give Carin (short term only)favourable terms. However this will be a brand new experience to Sl politics.

This news was out many months ago. Somewhere around October they said the commercial agreement was being finalized in December. They also said that the extractions from the first well will cost higher than the subsequent. The expected 75 m barrells worth of gas will be supplied direct to CEB, and the initial well cost will not be a whole lot lower than the market prices, but the forex saving would have positive effect on the economy. Two more years to start getting a wiff of the gas. By that time I am optimistic that there will be more strikes in the Cuavery basin.

Backstage

Even when a white Albino turtle is kidnapped, it is made headlines.

This is BIG news for the country and SL government and i think needs more publicity. However some quarters are trying to keep this quiet... Opposition will not want to promote such positive news...

If we are going to pump out this gas / Oil, we save billions in foreign exchange which in turn will reflect on GDP growth, less debt, improvement in infrastructure, etc and of course will trigger the CSE bulls to run!!!

Something is murky, cloudy, fishy or whatever one may call it Hmmmm......

Cheers!

I too have been quite surprised at the lack of excitement about this in the media or even in the forum. One article said 70 % of the CEB thermal fuel requirement could be supplied by the El dorado well. I believe the petroleum act which was drafted last year has to be ratified by the cabinet prior to inking the commercial deal with Cairns. This should happen soon. Behind the scene Morotuwa uni have started there petroleum science and tech dept (I am told). Vendor conferences were held mid last year by Cairns with present and aspirant local private sector partners.
Business Basil had a keen insight to the matter, but he has not appeared in the forum recently. I only know whats in the mainstream media and hearsay, but the 75mill barrels in 2017/18 seems to me a given. Same time Casinos open , how that ?


Cairn in discussion with govt. to commercialise Dorado well
Wednesday, 23 October 2013 08:56

Cairn India is currently in discussions with the Sri Lankan government to commercialize the Dorado well in the Mannar Basin, probably including a pipeline from the well to Norochcholai.

However, the pipeline is not expected to serve Norochcholai power plant in the short-term, instead will add to power generation in Colombo.

“We are still in the exploration phase. However, plans are now underway to begin commercialisation of the Dorado. While exploration is overall a statistically unsuccessful endeavor there is significant potential in Sri Lanka,” Cairn India Manager - International Exploration & New Ventures, Dr. Michael Quinn said.

Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat Director General Saliya Wickramasuriya was recently quoted as saying that Sri Lankan government was planning to strike a sales agreement with Cairn India within this year with hopes to join natural gas producing nations by 2017-18.

Meanwhile, releasing its second quarter results yesterday, Cairn India said the company continues to engage in appraisal planning and commercial discussions with the Sri Lankan government for monetizing the discovered gas resources.

The company also said the government has granted an extension to the current exploration phase up to April 2014.

According to government sources, a six-month extension has been granted to Cairn to submit a detailed appraisal of the 3- year exploration process (first phase) and its commercial potential.

Estimated to be a small-medium sized well, Cairn has had preliminary discussions previously regarding the commercialisation of its discoveries, following the confirmation of hydrocarbon potential in two of the exploration wells drilled by the company in April this year.

In October 2011, Cairn Lanka announced that it had discovered natural gas deposits in Dorado, an exploratory well located in the SL 2007-01-001 block in the Mannar basin.

This was followed by a further announcement in November that the firm had discovered gas deposits with hydrocarbon potential in the second exploratory well, Barracuda. A third well was also drilled and subsequently abandoned as a dry hole.

Entering the second phase of exploration, Cairn drilled its fourth well in the Mannar Basin and in March this year and said that well was also plugged and abandoned as a dry hole.

Meanwhile, the second round of bidding for exploration licenses in blocks of the Mannar and Cauvery Basins are scheduled to reach completion on November 29th. (CF)

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@Rapaport wrote:I am wondering why the commercial viability of the Cairns find has not been publicised as yet?? Hmmmm

Or maybe Colombopage is bluff??

Cheers!

May be waiting for a special occasion. Like an election.

Friends, You'll have missed one important observation in recent past.

USA is unnecessarily pressing Sri Lanka on HR issues and the pressure is getting more day by day. 

Conclusion : Sri Lanka do have commercially viable Hydro Carbons.

@Leon wrote:

@Rapaport wrote:I am wondering why the commercial viability of the Cairns find has not been publicised as yet?? Hmmmm

Or maybe Colombopage is bluff??

Cheers!

May be waiting for a special occasion. Like an election.

 
Probably will announce for the Presidential Election, hopefully 06-12 months time. He will not waste this triumph for provincial elections.

Investors point of view, we do not need this news right now. Market will have enough news through out this year giving lot of trading opportunities.

@hariesha wrote:

@Leon wrote:

@Rapaport wrote:I am wondering why the commercial viability of the Cairns find has not been publicised as yet?? Hmmmm

Or maybe Colombopage is bluff??

Cheers!

May be waiting for a special occasion. Like an election.

 
Probably will announce for the Presidential Election, hopefully 06-12 months time. He will not waste this triumph for provincial elections.

Investors point of view, we do not need this news right now. Market will have enough news through out this year giving lot of trading opportunities.

I think for any investor this news will be advantageous to know sooner than later!

Cheers

For some