Sri Lanka launches Mannar Basin licensing round for oil exploration

Sri Lanka launched its Licensing Round 2026 on Tuesday, offering four offshore blocks in the Mannar Basin for oil and gas exploration.

The licensing round marks a historic effort to attract tier-one global operators to explore, evaluate, and commercialize its vast offshore hydrocarbon potential. Previous exploratory drilling in the deep-water Mannar Basin conclusively established the presence of an active hydrocarbon play. The newly announced acreage provides global operators with modern reprocessing techniques, robust existing seismic datasets, and an updated fiscal and regulatory structure.