2 August 2021 08:43 am Views - 162
By Kelum Bandara
The government has drafted a new bill to be enacted into an Act to regulate, among others, oil exploration in Sri Lanka.
The draft legislation has already been announced in the gazette notification. The bill seeks to deal with all aspects of the upstream development of the petroleum sector.
The new piece of legislation, if enacted, will provide for the establishment of a Policy Advisory Committee to advise on formulation of a national policy for the upstream petroleum industry covering the exploration, development, production, and management of all petroleum resources in Sri Lanka.
It will provide the legal framework to regulate all processes of the exploration, development, production and management of petroleum resources in Sri Lanka including the provision of operational guidelines to establish an independent, efficient, and transparent regulatory framework regarding the exploration, development, production and management of petroleum resources in Sri Lanka.
Another objective of the bill is to manage the available petroleum resources in an equitable, safe, and environmentally sustainable manner, and to design, implement, monitor and revise fiscal regimes that meet evolving economic needs of the country while providing fiscal stability to contractors.
The bill will set up the Petroleum Development Authority of Sri Lanka. It will be responsible for making recommendations in respect of the national policy on upstream petroleum industry to the Policy Advisory Committee.
The authority will have the power to prepare a map dividing the onshore and offshore areas and to demarcate and designate exploration blocks and development blocks. Afterwards, it will also have powers to market these blocks while negotiating with contractors the terms and conditions.
The draft legislation has already been announced in the gazette notification. The bill seeks to deal with all aspects of the upstream development of the petroleum sector.
The new piece of legislation, if enacted, will provide for the establishment of a Policy Advisory Committee to advise on formulation of a national policy for the upstream petroleum industry covering the exploration, development, production, and management of all petroleum resources in Sri Lanka.
It will provide the legal framework to regulate all processes of the exploration, development, production and management of petroleum resources in Sri Lanka including the provision of operational guidelines to establish an independent, efficient, and transparent regulatory framework regarding the exploration, development, production and management of petroleum resources in Sri Lanka. Another objective of the bill is to manage the available petroleum resources in an equitable, safe, and environmentally sustainable manner, and to design, implement, monitor and revise fiscal regimes that meet evolving economic needs of the country while providing fiscal stability to contractors.
The bill will set up the Petroleum Development Authority of Sri Lanka. It will be responsible for making recommendations in respect of the national policy on upstream petroleum industry to the Policy Advisory Committee. The authority will have the power to prepare a map dividing the onshore and offshore areas and to demarcate and designate exploration blocks and development blocks.
BLURB
The authority will have the power to prepare a map dividing the onshore and offshore areas and to demarcate and designate exploration blocks and development blocks