RIYADH, 29 March 2006 — Saudi Arabia is to train Sri Lankans in the field of oil exploration, according to the outcome of Monday’s talks between Abdul Hameed Mohamed Fowzie, minister of petroleum, petroleum resource and development, and railways and transport and Ali Al-Naimi, minister of petroleum and mineral resources.
“We had fruitful discussions with my counterpart here and we are happy that the Kingdom has agreed to cooperate with Sri Lanka in areas of mutual interests in the field of oil supply, exploration and investments,” Fowzie told Arab News.
The minister who is currently leading a five-member delegation to the Kingdom, paid a courtesy call on Riyadh Governor Prince Salman ibn Abdulaziz and also met Saudi businessmen at a luncheon hosted by Hussein Al-Athel, secretary general of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI). Later in the day, Al-Naimi hosted a dinner banquet in honor of Fowzie at the Four Seasons Hotel.
The Kingdom supplies Sri Lanka with 10 percent of its oil requirements. Iran is the country’s largest supplier of crude.
Fowzie said that Sri Lanka conducted seismic surveys in 2002 and 2005 that revealed that there are high chances of finding oil in the Mannar Basin, which covers an area of 35,000 km, stretching from Mannar in the northeast to Kalutara in the south. Currently, he said oil exploration is being carried out in the deep seas near the coastal town of Hambantota, some 250 kms from the city of Colombo.
During the ministerial talks, Al-Naimi said that the Kingdom, being an oil-producing country, has rich experience in the field of oil exploration.
He requested the visiting team to contact the local businessmen and leading Saudi banks for investments in oil-exploration projects. Al-Naimi said Saudi experts could visit Sri Lanka and offer them the needed training in the field of exploration.
