Exploration for oil and gas in certain parts of Sri Lanka between 1967 and 1974 did not yield any useful results. That exploration did not cover the Mannararea. In 2001, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation awarded a contract for a seismic study of the Mannar area to TGS NOPEC, a Norwegiancompany. Under this contract, the Norwegian company was permitted to sell the data collected by it to third parties too. It sold the data to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) of India and British Gas, India. In 2006, the Sri Lankangovernment purchased the entire data from the Norwegian company for US $ 10.5 million and cancelled its right to sell the data collected by it to third parties. According toDr Neil de Silva, Director-General of the Petroleum Resource Development Secretariat (PRDS), the data collected by the Norwegian company indicated the possibility of the presence of oil and gas in the Mannar Basin. The data was given to an Australian company, Spectrum, for analysis.
On September 22, 2005, A.H.M. Fowzie, the Minister for Environment and Natural Resources, stated as follows in a press interview: