National gas policy to be finalised soon
By Sanjeevi Jayasuriya
A national gas policy is being formulated and will be finalized soon.
The Petroleum Development Act is ready to enable Sri Lanka to convince
companies to invest in Sri Lanka's oil sector, Minister of Petroleum
Resources Development, Chandima Weerakkody said.
"Energy security is extremely important to the entire world and to
Sri Lanka. In this context we need to attract investors to explore
energy possibilities and the country is a safe destination for
investments with related infrastructure facilities. However, it is
necessary to pay more attention to accountability, transparency and good
governance," he said.
"We have been successful in convincing world giants such as Bonavista
Energy Corporation to walk into Sri Lanka.
The company has invested US $ 35 million," the Minister said. "We
have discovered gas, but we have not seen Sri Lankan gas.
The country is full of resources, but finance is a difficult task.
Only one in every seven wells has oil and the government is not in a
position to take a gamble. Therefore, we need investors in this sector,
he said. "We need to ensure the continued supply of petroleum products
and the availability of related resources to carry out activities with
confidence," Minister Weerakkody said. |