The Ministry of Highways & Road Development together with Petroleum Resources Development has developed the draft national policy on natural gas with a view to establish and develop the natural gas industry in Sri Lanka.

With the view of further improvement and development of the policy, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka together along with The Ministry of Highways & Road Development and Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat has decided to call public and expert comments on the draft national policy on Liquid Natural Gas.

Exploratory evidence on natural gas deposits in Mannar Basin and the pursuit of relatively clean alternative fuels for enhancing the diversity of power generation energy mix have heightened the interest in natural gas in the country.

First Natural Gas discovery in Sri Lanka was made in the Mannar Basin, off North Western coast in 2011. So far, exploratory drilling has made two discoveries from the same block with estimated reservoir capacities in excess of 1 Trillion Cubic Feet (TCF) of natural gas and 10 million BBL(barrels) of condensate.

The draft policy explained despite positive prospects, however, Sri Lanka has no experience in natural gas in any economic sector so far and there is substantial evidence to indicate that Sri Lanka can reap significant economic, social, and environmental benefits from using natural gas as a source of energy in power, industrial, transportation, household and commercial sectors and a raw material for industrial purposes.

The national policy on natural gas will facilitate the exploration and production of natural gas, importation and exportation of Liquefied Natural Gas and utilization of natural gas as an energy source and raw material; and to establish the legal, regulatory and institutional framework for the natural gas industry in Sri Lanka.

The draft policy is available on www.pucsl.gov.lk and the written comments can be submitted via post (Chairman, Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, Level 06, BoC Merchant Tower, No. 28, St. Michael’s Road, Colombo 03), via fax (0112392641) or via email (consultation@pucsl.gov.lk).

The oral submission or the discussion would be held on 28^th March 2019 at cinema lounge – BMICH and interested parties can be participated by registering via 0718622800.