Bids high in quality despite the number: Saliya
Q:Q:Q:The deadline for bids ended on November 29. How was the response?
We received one bid each for three blocks. Cairn India made a bid for a block in the Mannar basin while we received two bids from Canada’s Bona Visa for two blocks in the Cauvery basin. When are you planning to award the blocks to winners for exploration purposes?
As soon as we finish evaluation and submit the same for the consideration of the Cabinet, the blocks will be awarded. It is important to capture as much of the prevailing weather window as possible. Despite high expectations, you have received only three bids. What were the reasons?
We did expect more bids but what we received made up in quality for what they lacked in quantity. Although detailed evaluation has not started yet, a preliminary review indicates very robust work commitments— the best Sri Lanka has received thus far.
Further, they spell out a significant amount of both 2D and 3D seismic and a number of commitment wells, which will go a long way towards gathering enough data to understand our assets better. Why did the big players who seemed really interested initially back out at the last moment?
All the major IOCs (International Oil Companies) who have been following Sri Lanka like Total, Shell, Exxon and ENI, confirmed to us that they would not be bidding in this round before the round was closed, so their absence was not a surprise.
What was unexpected was that the smaller independent companies looking at the Cauvery basin also did not bid at the last minute. The logic of the IOCs seems to be uniformly consistent—technical uncertainty. While Cairn has undoubtedly de-risked the northern Mannar basin with its 2011 discoveries, questions
Q:still remain in other parts.
These may well be addressed by more data, but unfortunately, despite our best intentions, we were not able to commence the data acquisition programmes we planned last year. This has led to investment in Sri Lanka, although possibly recommended at regional level, losing out to competitive opportunity during a global r e v i e w. O u r position on the priority list of global oil companies may well improve with additional data, the acquisition of which must remain a high priority. Any update with regard to deep water explorations? Any new players who have expressed interest except French oil giant Total? The proposed Joint Study agreement with Total has been finalised and will go to the Cabinet for final approval very soon. This is another milestone we tried to reach well before the bid round closed, as it would have positively i mpacted i ndustry sentiment, but it was not to be. As it is, we expect to sign the agreement with Total in January 2014. Several other IOCs have expressed interest in JS work, but at this point no enquiry is firm enough to warrant mentioning explicitly.
Q:Q:It is said that lack of data about the blocks offered was a major hindrance?
Companies bid based on available information and in Sri Lanka’s case, this is relatively sparse. As mentioned before, lack of sufficient data was definitely a factor in the decision of some companies, as they were unable to de-risk the prospects beyond a certain point. On the positive side, one thing we did do successfully was designing a competitive legal and fiscal regime for this bid round. Companies were universally of the opinion that the new MPRA (Model Petroleum Resources Agreement) was a significant improvement over the old one and from the commercial and operational point of view Sri Lanka was an attractive place to invest. In fact, according to one super-major, Sri Lanka is one of the best in the region. What is the current situation with regard to amending the Petroleum Resources Act?
It has now received comment from the Attor ney General, and will be going back to the Legal Draftsman for final refinement prior to being placed before the Cabinet and then the Parliament. Any update on the price negotiations with Cairn with regard to the gas found in the Mannar basin?
A draft MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) covering key aspects of this project is being reviewed by the relevant government stakeholders as we speak and we are giving this a high priority not only due to its economic benefit, but also due to the positive impact it will have on Sri Lanka’s standing as an emerging oil province.
Q:Q:Busy lives often means tight careers and even tighter personal spaces. It’s a tough battle to keep everything on the burners all at once but that’s the standard formula for today’s busy woman – whether she is powering a rewarding career or is an entrepreneur who must put in an insane amount of hours per day.
Still, children must be taken care of, home chores done and family held together through it all. When all is said and done, the one last on the list is the woman of the house.
Recommended‘metime’
But it doesn’t have to be that way. It is perfectly alright to consider yourself important too. If you are not up mentally, physically and spiritually to meet the challenges of life, then chances are that no one around you, whether family or colleagues will be, either. Over-worked, depressed and demotivated women (or men) are likely to take wrong decisions, break easily and allow themselves to spiral downward in face of adversity. There is no better individual to be taken care of once in a while than you yourself. But for most women, that’s the hardest thing to do.
Experts recommend that you spend some time on yourself everyday – they call it the ‘me time’ to recharge, regenerate and recover from the daily hum- drum of life. The me time can be spent in prayer or meditation, reading, sitting down, being pampered in a salon or simply sitting down by yourself with a good cup of tea.
The idea is to unwind and give your systems a chance to clear the clutter and calm down. Some companies and organisations encourage the concept of me time where top executives actually get some time off during the week to engage in me time.
Finding the time to spend doing nothing is also considered vital in keeping the work sanity balance. A Saturday afternoon can be set aside for the doing nothing session. Ideally, this portion of time must be totally unplanned and kept for spontaneous activity such as watching a movie, going shopping or just hanging around.
Dying art of conversation
Although we can and often do get into a work mode by default, it is important to keep this part of the week to do nothing on purpose. It can be rewarding once you fit it into a busy week and before long, you begin to enjoy the stress-free half a day that really enables you recuperate from an insanely busy week.
Spending time talking is also a key therapeutic element in achieving the successful worklife matrix. Whether it is the kids, ageing parents, the spouse or colleagues, spending some amount of time connecting is important, especially in today’s highly entertaining environment of social media, smartphones and the Internet. With all those communicative devices, we increasingly find ourselves checking our smartphones while waiting for the bus or our turn at the doctor’s or the supermarket counter.
We no longer make polite small talk that used to turn strangers into friends and acquaintances into colleagues – we can easily be content with our speakers connected to our smartphone playing You Tube videos or music or check Facebook status.
Making conversation is a dying art – I remember reading that following the power outage caused by the infamous storm in New York, a mother discovered that her children actually could not make conversation with other children of the same age when they had nothing to do when their electronic gaming devices and smartphones went out and could not be charged.
In fact, we would do well to realize and discover that those who could make conversation an interesting choice are likely to make new social and business connections easily than others.
Keeping ourselves relevant
Do we spend time recharging, researching and updating ourselves in our chosen field of work? This is an important area – for an example, doctors are expected to update themselves regularly on status of research findings on various relevant illnesses and other heaps of information that flows steadily from on-going research projects.
For professionals and others, updating today is no longer a tedious task given the plethora of information available online at the click of a button. But it is vital that we choose to find the time to update ourselves regularly. Otherwise, we can become like software that is not updated – we lose track of the new developments, the new trends and innovations and thereby, lose the edge in keeping ourselves relevant. We should find the time to challenge ourselves by never giving up on thinking new ideas and concepts. There is something fundamentally powerful about innovative ideas whose time has come. If not for brilliant ideas, half of the most successful products and services would not have been created (Nayomini Weerasooriya, a senior journalist, writer and a PR professional, can be contacted at nayominiweera
sooriya@gmail.com)