ONGC Videsh ltd, the overseas arm of State-owned ONGC, has won an offshore oil and gas block in New Zealand, the first domestic firm in this sector to have made it in that country.
OVl won an offshore exploration permit in the Taranaki Basin, in the same region as several commercially successful oil and gas fields.
The Indian firm was among those who were declared winner of the 15 oil and gas exploration licences by New Zealand's Energy Ministry.
Others who walked away with exploration licences included US giant Chevron and Norwegian state-owned oil and gas company Statoil. OMV New Zealand, a subsidiary of the Austrian oil major OMV and already producing oil and gas offshore Taranaki, was awarded one offshore Taranaki and one Pegasus permit.
local major Todd Exploration, in partnership with Beach Petroleum, took one offshore Taranaki permit, while Canadian onshore producer TAG Oil NZ took a further two Taranaki onshore permits.