No way with Norway

A Norwegian oil deal with Sri Lanka is ending up with three different view points amongst government authorities and the Norwegians, lucratively, up on the deal.

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) last week decided to compensate TGS-NOPEC to terminate the Non-exclusive Seismic Data Agreement and retrieve the data, despite opposition from the Strategic Enterprise Management Agency (SEMA).

SEMA and some other CPC officials said TGS-NOPEC has never submitted the 2D seismic data it collected to the CPC as per the original agreement signed in 2002.

However, a senior official involved in the signing of the original agreement said TGS-NOPEC was never in breach of contract as they have already submitted the data to the CPC even though he admitted to never having seen the data.

The CPC through the Ministry of Petroleum Resources submitted a cabinet paper to get approval to retrieve the data and terminate the agreement between the CPC and TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA, a Norwegian company which was contracted to conduct seismic surveys in the Mannar and Cauvery Basin.

“The cabinet paper has not been approved yet but has been submitted for approval. It will be approved at the next cabinet meeting. Sri Lanka has to pay a total of 10.5 million dollars as compensation, 2 million of which is offset by the sale of data by the company,” said A.H.M. Fowzie, Minister for Petroleum Resources.