Sri Lanka is offering 13 blocks in the offshore Cauvery and Mannar basins for exploration and production activity in the country’s 2nd Licensing Round.

The blocks on offer are: C-1, C-2 ,C-3, C-4 and C-5 in the Cauvery basin, and M-1, M-3, M-4, M-5, M-6, M-7, M-8 and M-9 in the Mannar basin.

The Cauvery basin blocks range in size from 2,403 sq km in the shallow waters of the Palk Straight between Sri Lanka and India, to 4,566 sq km in deep water areas to the northeast of Sri Lanka. The blocks in the Mannar basin are larger, ranging in size from 2,714 sq km to 8,120 sq km in the deep to very deep frontier waters of the Gulf of Mannar.

The country’s Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS) is using IHS as consultant to organise three roadshows for the second round. The first roadshow in Houston will take place in Houston on 7 March while the second will be in London on 12 March and the third in Singapore on 21 March.

“We are expecting good response from the global majors for this round following the two discoveries in Mannar basin by Cairn Energy,” said PRDS director general, Saliya Wickramasuriya. “Companies like ONGC Videsh, Cairn India and Reliance have expressed interest in the exploration of oil and gas blocks in Sri Lankan waters.”

Cairn Lanka Private Ltd. discovered hydrocarbon shows in two of three exploration wells drilled in the deepwater SL 2007-01-001 block in the Mannar basin off Sri Lanka’s west coast. The operator discovered a 25 m (82 ft) hydrocarbon-bearing sandstone with the first well (LPL-Dorado-91H/1z) drilled in a water depth of 1,354 m (4,442 ft). A 24 m (79 ft) of hydrocarbon sandstone was found with the second well (CLPL-Barracuda-1G/1) drilled in a water depth of 1,509 m (4,951 ft).

Dorado was the first well to discover hydrocarbons in Sri Lanka. A study prepared by the Sri Lankan government has indicated the presence of about 1 Bn bbl of oil off the country’s northwest coast, including the Mannar basin.