(PTI)
India’s flagship overseas firm ONGC Videsh Ltd has got the seventh extension to explore for oil and gas in a Vietnamese block in the contested waters of the South China Sea, officials said. OVL, the overseas arm of state-owned
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has secured extension of the exploration phase upto June 15, 2023, they said. The company has not found any commercially recoverable oil and gas reserves in the block in the 16 years it has been exploring there but has continued presence there because of India’s strategic interest in the South China Sea. Vietnam too wants the Indian firm to counter China’s interventions in the contested waters.
