Cairn discovers natural gas in Sri Lanka

Cairn India has discovered natural gas reserves in the very first well it has drilled in the offshore Mannar Basin of Sri Lanka.

Cairn had spud the well in early August and natural gas was struck last week, the company said.

The Mannar basin in Sri Lanka is a frontier petroleum province that is yet to be explored. The Block, SL 2007-01-001, was awarded to Cairn in the 2008 Sri Lanka bid round. Cairn Lanka (Private) Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cairn India and holds a 100 per cent participating interest in the Mannar block.

Cairn Lanka acquired 1,750 square kilometres of 3D seismic data in the Mannar Basin of Sri Lanka between December 2009, and January 2010.

Based on the 3D seismic interpretation, several prospects and leads have been identified. Cairn will drill a total of three wells in the block using drillship 'Chikyu'. The drilling campaign will cost $110 million