Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS) which was responsible for Sri Lanka’s fuel explorations and was under the President during the former government has been transferred to the Power & Energy Ministry by the new government.

Now, the petroleum explorations of Sri Lanka will come under the purview of Power & Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka.

In the recent past, Champika Ranawaka has alleged that there have been incidents of corruption and mismanagement in fuel and natural gas explorations in the Mannar Basin and that Britain’s Cairns Limited which entered the exploration activities had shown Sri Lanka’s fuel resources and earned a profit of USD 7.1 billion for the company.

The owners of Cairns Limited had carried out propaganda that natural gas deposits had been discovered in Sri Lanka and sold around 90 per cent of the company’s shares. Ranawaka alleged that this had deprived Sri Lanka of a huge amount.

Sale of such shares without informing the Sri Lankan government is wrong and the agreement between Cairns Limited and Sri Lanka has not been tabled in Parliament to this day, alleges Minister Ranawaka.

The former government took steps to divide the region within the Mannar Basin where fuel and natural gas have reportedly been discovered into eight (08) lots and one has been offered to India and another to China.