India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) has won exploration rights to a large oil block in southern Iraq, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported Thursday.
The size of the Iraqi block is comparable to India's largest offshore oil field Bombay High on the country's west coast which produces nearly 40 percent of India's crude oil, the news agency said.
The contract for exploration was signed during the five-day official visit of Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan to India.
PTI said New Delhi was likely to secure another contract for the development of the Tuba oil field in southern Iraq which has the potential of producing 300,000 barrels of crude per day.
Iraq's oil ministry is currently negotiating with the Indian government for the second oil field project.
ONGC has joined hands with domestic giant Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and an Algerian oil company Sonatrach for the Tuba project which would need an initial investment of 500-600 million dollars -- NEW DELHI (AFP)
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