Reliance in Lanka
Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance has joined the growing list of companies interested in Sri Lanka’s upcoming E&P bidding round, expected by the end of this year.
PETROWATCH learns Ambani’s trusted senior executives Manoj Modi and V. Balasubramanian were in Colombo from July 27 to July 30 to get more details on the Lanka bidding round.
“Modi and Balasubramanian met a close family member of Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa,” says an observer. Sri Lanka is expected to offer eight offshore blocks in this round, including shallow water blocks and deepwater blocks sitting in water depths of up to 2000 metres.
These blocks have been carved out based on seismic surveys of areas with ‘significant petroleum potential’ and ‘large-scale structural traps,” carried out by TGS-Nopec in 2001 and 2005. A delegation from India’s oil ministry is expected to travel to Colombo next month as ONGC’s overseas exploration arm ONGC Videsh (OVL) is interested in three Lanka blocks: C1, C2 and C3.