Sri Lanka entered into an agreement with WesternGeco Seismic Holdings Limited to reprocess the market and sell the Mannar Basin 2D seismic data on a multi-client basis yesterday with the company's investment being Rs. 100 million.
Petroleum Resources Development Minister Chandima Weerakkody who entered into an agreement on behalf of Sri Lanka with one of the largest oil and gas service companies in the world, said Sri Lanka gained a profit of Rs 12 million after the signing of the agreement.
The minister signed the agreement on behalf of the government with Vice President of the Asia Westerngeco Seismic Holdings Limited Roger Dowdney at the Ministry premises.
Minister Weerakkody said at a press conference after the signing of the agreement that the company was selected by the Cabinet of Ministers following a global tender, which attracted bids from several reputed service providers.
He added that the objective of the project was to upgrade existing data by extracting more information using modern processing techniques, thereby reducing the technical and financial risk of prospective investors in deep water exploration in Sri Lanka.
He also said that the cost of the project approximately USD 750,000 would be borne by WesternGeco and it would recover the costs from sales to multiple investors.
"The data available of the Mannar Basin was not updated," Minister Weerakkody said. "Now the reprocessing of available data is completed and the data is up for sale. WesternGeco has brought in an investment of over Rs 100 million to market our data".
The minister said this agreement would give publicity on Sri Lankan data and provide opportunities globally through a comprehensive network of oil and gas companies.
He added that Sri Lanka too receive a package and operating license for WesternGeco's new geophysical processing software (OMEGA) along with commensurate training for Sri Lankan users, at no cost. The minister also added that with this agreement, the reprocessed data, given at no cost to the ministry earlier, will enhance Sri Lanka's interpretation and basin modeling capabilities, thereby increasing our understanding of the sub surface.
"Many international players in this field are looking at Sri Lanka," the minister said.
He added that Sri Lanka is marching forward with its objective to be self sufficient in power and energy.
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