The vacancy for the Director General of the Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat has been posted on the website of the organisation, which now comes under the Presidential Secretariat.
The PRDS was originally under the petroleum ministry but was later brought under President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The announcement seeking a new head of the PRDS by the Presidential Secretariat said the government is looking for a "dynamic, experienced Sri Lankan citizen" to be appointed as Director General of Petroleum Resources who will head the Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat.
The PRDS director general Neil de Silva, a Sri Lankan-born Canadian citizen, quit his post on April 31, 2011 and is now in Canada, according to officials in the PRDS.
No formal announcement about his resignation has been made and the absence of a head for oil exploration has caused concern among officials in the corporate sector with interest in petroleum exploration.
Saliya Wickramasuriya, a petroleum indu