Seismic studies by Cairn Lanka, to explore oil and gas in the Mannar Basin, are to commence by the end of this year, informed sources said yesterday.

"The 3D deep and ultra deep sea  seismic studies will be conducted in the Mannar Basin, a frontier petroleum province that is yet to be explored. It would cover approximately 3000 Km2 in water depths of 200 meters to 1800 meters. The work programme includes proposals to acquire 5000 kilometres of 2D, 1000 km2 of 3D seismic and drill three wells in the first three years, of the eight year exploration period."

Cairn Lanka, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cairn India and a Sri Lanka Board of Investment approved company, has committed an initial investment of US$ 110 million for the project, the sources said . "Global tenders have already been called and Cairn Lanka, intends applying the best in class technologies and industry practices, to ascertain if commercial quantities of hydro carbons can be found."

The commencement of seismic studies has been scheduled for the end of the year, because the "Fair Weather" period is usually from December to April, the sources said.

The Petroleum Resources Agreement between the Sri Lankan government and Cairn India, was signed in July 2008, by Petroleum Development Resources Minister A.H.M. Fowzie and Cairn’s Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director, Indrajit Banerjee.

Cairn India, which currently produces eight percent of its country’s crude oil requirements, was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange in January 2007. It has working interests in 13 fields in India. Cairn Energy PLC, an independent oil and gas exploration and production company listed on the London Stock Exchange, has a majority share holding in Cairn India and has been active in South Asia for more than a decade.

The sources said that the Ravaya block (KG Basin) in Andhra Pradesh and CB/OS-2 block in Gujarat are currently in production. The Rajasthan block, which has 20 oil discoveries to its credit, the largest in India since 1985, is in the development phase and commercial crude oil production is expected to commence this year. The Mangala Field, forms the core of its future developments.