COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, July 10 (UPI) -- Sri Lanka has offered oil blocks for exploration off its northwestern coast to India and China.
But a preliminary survey has found that the areas are not promising, India's Hindustan Times newspaper reported Monday.
"Six blocks would be offered to India and China for tendering soon," said A.H.M. Fowzie, Sri Lanka's oil minister.
He said the Gulf of Mannar had been chosen as the area for exploration, which is expected to commence in August 2007. Senior executives of the Indian oil industry said their preliminary investigations suggested they did not find the deposits promising. They said they would consider exploration, however.
The offer comes as relations between India and Sri Lanka have been strained over oil. Fowzie has threatened to take over the retail outlets of the LIOC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian Oil Corp., if the sale of petrol is not resumed within a month.
"People are queuing up at my sheds because the Lanka Indian Oil Corp. has stopped supply. I can't allow this to go on indefinitely," he said. ""I have therefore given them an ultimatum. If they don't resume supplies within 30 days, I will take over their outlets."
LIOC outlets stopped selling petrol three weeks ago following a dispute with the government on the payment of a $70 million subsidy.
