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National oil and gas company to be set up 

24 Nov 2021

  • Commercial production from Mannar seabed M3 Block basins in the pipeline 
By Pamodi Waravita  The Government said yesterday (24) that a national oil and gas company will be established for the production of oil and gas, in a commercial capacity, from the M3 Block on the Mannar seabed, home to oil and gas basins.  “This company will be a public private partnership (PPP), and a subsidiary of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). We have dreamt of the oil and gas basins in the Mannar M3 Block for decades now. Explorations from 2011 to 2013 confirmed the presence of these basins. We are one step closer to this dream as Cabinet of Ministers approval was given on 23 November for the establishment of this company,” said Cabinet Spokesman Dullas Alahapperuma yesterday.  Thus, the company will be involved in storage facilities, the construction of pipelines, infrastructure facilities development, and the ownership and monitoring of local natural gas exploration and production with a commercial capability.  Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila earlier told The Sunday Morning about a 100% state-owned national oil company, to be established under the proposed Petroleum Resources Act (PRA), which would replace the Petroleum Resources Act, No. 26 of 2003.


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