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Sri Lanka has offered four offshore blocks in the Northwestern Mannar Basin for international investors to explore oil and gas in a fresh attempt to attract investments into the sector after an earlier attempt ended in a failure due to not commercially viable production.

The Mannar Basin, which lies between southern India and northwestern Sri Lanka, may hold around $260 billion worth of oil and gas resources, A Sri Lanka’s former energy minister has told the parliament in 2021.

The latest attempt is the first under President Anura Kumara Dissanayake government to explore oil and gas in the area. Based on seismic surveys, previous governments have estimated that a 30,000 square kilometre area off the north coast of the country holds over one million barrels of oil resources.

“We are opening four significant exploration blocks in the Mannar Basin and invite experienced international energy companies to evaluate this opportunity and work with Sri Lanka a long-term partners in the responsible development of our natural resources,” the island nation’s Energy Minister Anura Karunathilaka said.

Sri Lanka held its first international licensing round for petroleum exploration in 2007, with one exploration block awarded to an Indian firm that pulled out amid concerns o er the commercial viability of oil production despite the discovery of gas and hydrocarbons in the Mannar basin.

“Now we have different scientific data, and we believe that the time has come to move forward with great determination and clear sense of purpose…..We are sure that the history will not repeat it again,” Karunathilaka said.

Out of the four blocks, second is the smallest with 5,689.05 square kilometres area and the fourth is the largest with 11,728.3 square kilometres area.

In 2007, the island nation assigned to China and India on nomination basis. However, this time, it has not assigned for any other countries, the officials said.

“Nobody is barred from bidding,” Neil De Silva, the Director General at the Petroleum Development Authority of Sri Lanka (PDASL) told EconomyNext.

Sri Lanka’s pursuit of offshore oil and gas exploration began in the late 1960s, initially focusing on shallow offshore areas in the Gulf of Mannar and the Cauvery Basin.

Early exploratory drilling yielded limited technical successes until 2011, when Cairn Lanka, a subsidiary of Cairn India at that time, made a breakthrough by discovering significant natural gas accumulations in two offshore wells within the deepwater Mannar Basin.

These discoveries established the presence of commercially viable natural gas and condensate deposits.

However, due to complex deepwater extraction dynamics, a lack of domestic natural gas infrastructure, and global energy market shifts, commercial production failed to materialize, leading Cairn to exit the block in 2015.

Following years of stagnation, Sri Lanka modernized its regulatory setup by enacting the Petroleum Resources Act of 2021 and establishing the Petroleum Development Authority of Sri Lanka (PDASL) to manage exploration rights and update offshore acreage block maps.

To revitalize foreign investment and lower its heavy reliance on coal and oil imports, the country introduced new joint-study regulations and structured new licensing frameworks.

These efforts aim to attract international oil and gas majors to explore and commercialize the estimated hydrocarbon potential across its three major prospective sedimentary basins: the Mannar, Cauvery, and Lanka Basins.

U.S. Ambassador-designate Eric Meyer arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka on the evening of August 22, 2026, to assume his duties as the United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka.

According to the US Embassy in Colombo, Ambassador-designate Meyer expressed his enthusiasm for the opportunity to serve as the 29th U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, stating:

“It is an honor to represent the United States in Sri Lanka. I look forward to building on the strong foundation between our two democracies to advance a U.S.-Sri Lanka partnership that creates new opportunities for American businesses, furthers our shared security interests, and delivers greater prosperity for both Americans and Sri Lankans.”

Prior to his assignment in Sri Lanka, he served as Chargé d’Affaires, a.i., at the U.S. Mission to Norway and, before that, as Senior Bureau Official for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the Department of State.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is set to lead a series of public rallies of the National People’s Power (NPP) covering all districts from 5 September, Minister Dr Nalinda Jayatissa said.

Speaking to the media in the Kalutara area, Jayatissa said the rallies would be accompanied by a programme to reorganise electoral committees at the Grama Niladhari Division level.

He also challenged opposition groups to take to the streets and hold public meetings to demonstrate their support, instead of engaging in what he described as nightly conspiracies at the residence of former Minister G L Peiris.

“There is no point in saying that you have something more than Gotabaya Rajapaksa or Ranil Wickremesinghe, or that you have something more than this side or that side. Words are of no use,” he said.

Jayatissa said the NPP was reorganising its electoral committees from the village and Grama Niladhari Division levels.

“From September 5, large-scale public rallies will be held in districts under the leadership of the President. We say that if there is public opinion against the Government, prove it. That is all that needs to be done. They should at least look at the programme we carried out when we were in the Opposition,” he said.

A private member’s motion has been submitted to Parliament calling for the appointment of a Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the 1983 ‘Black July’ ethnic violence and the killings at Welikada Prison, with the aim of establishing the truth, assessing damages caused, and putting forward recommendations to prevent such incidents from recurring.

The motion, presented by TELO Leader and Member of Parliament Selvam Adaikkalanathan, has been listed under P. 132/2026 on the Order Paper of Parliament dated Friday, 11 September 2026.

The motion states that national integration, social structure and the economy suffered serious setbacks as a result of the Black July violence and the Welikada Prison killings. It notes that thousands of people lost their lives, tens of thousands were displaced, and considerable property, including homes and businesses, was destroyed.

The motion further points out that more than forty years on, those responsible for the violence have still not been identified, and that no comprehensive and independent investigation has been carried out into the human rights violations and property damage that occurred at the time.

The motion emphasises the timely need to build lasting harmony among all communities in Sri Lanka and to ensure that ethnic conflict of this nature never recurs in the country.

It calls on Parliament to appoint a fully empowered Presidential Commission of Inquiry tasked with uncovering the complete truth surrounding the events of 1983, accurately assessing the damage caused, and presenting policy recommendations to the government aimed at preventing a repeat of such violence in future.

The United Nations has welcomed Sri Lanka’s decision to simplify immigration procedures aimed at expediting the voluntary return of refugees who fled to India during the country’s civil war without valid documents.

UN Resident Coordinator Marc-Andre Franche said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees would continue to facilitate the return and resettlement of these refugees through the world body.

In a post on “X”, Franche said he welcomed the Cabinet’s decision on procedures for the voluntary return of Sri Lankan refugees, describing it as a key step towards ensuring a safe and dignified return to the country after years of displacement.

The Sri Lankan government made special arrangements earlier this month for the initiative, which is intended to streamline the process and facilitate the return of refugees currently residing in India.

Sri Lankan refugees began arriving in large numbers in Tamil Nadu following the outbreak of ethnic violence on the island in 1983, and the subsequent escalation of the armed conflict between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

According to figures cited, around 18,000 refugees returned home between 2002 and 2022, while approximately 90,000 continue to reside in the southern Indian state.

Sri Lanka has dealt a heavy blow to press freedom in a former war zone by refusing to release a press club seized by the military more than 17 years ago.

Following the practice of earlier administrations, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s government had cited unspecified ‘security reasons’ to continue with the occupation.

Unsuccessfully appealing to successive governments since 2009 for the release of the quarter of an acre land and building, the Kilinochchi Media Forum (KMF) has approached president Dissanayake with the request in May 2026.

“Although surrounding properties, such as the Yogar Swamigal Nilayam and the primary section of Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalayam, have been released back to their respective owners, the land belonging to the Kilinochchi Press Club [is] yet to be released,” said a letter signed by the president and secretary of KMF.

A month later, the presidential secretariat had rejected the request based on ‘an information report obtained from the Ministry of Defence regarding the points mentioned’ in the KMF letter to the President.

“Accordingly, I kindly inform you that the Ministry of Defence has reported that due to the security reasons it is not possible to release the said land and building,” said W.M.S.P. Weerasinghe, Senior Assistant Secretary to the President.

The two paragraph letter does not clarify the justification provided by the ministry of defence.

Kilinochchi based journalists who are mostly Tamil speakers have carried out their media activities using the premises until 2008 when the area was under Tamil Tiger control.

Displaced during the height of the war, they managed to resettle in 2009.

Upon return, they found their workspace at ‘Kakka Kadai’ Junction along the Kilinochchi A9 highway under military occupation.

“We have submitted written requests to successive governments in the past pleading for the release of our property, but no positive outcome has been achieved so far. We would also like to bring to the kind notice of your excellency that media associations in all other districts of the Northern Province are currently functioning from their own lands and office premises. We are the only journalists’ association left without a proper workspace,” KMF said in their appeal to the president.

However, the Kilinochchi journalists, performing duties in one of the areas of Sri Lanka’s highest military concentration, are yet to see a change in their situation.

Source:The Leader.lk