OVL gets 3-yr extension for Vietnamese oil block

New Delhi: India’s flagship overseas firm ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) has secured another three-year extension to explore oil and gas in a Vietnamese block in the contested waters of the South China Sea, the firm’s parent ONGC said.

This is the eighth extension for OVL, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The seventh extension to explore oil and gas was till June 15, 2023 and PTI on August 13 reported that the company was in talks with Vietnamese authorities for another three-year extension. OVL “secures extension of 3 more years to explore in South China Sea’s Block 128! India’s strategic commitment stays strong as ONGC Videsh continues its exploration journey with its 8th extension till 15 June 2026,” ONGC said in a post on social messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The firm had in a proposal to regulator PVN sought a three-year extension of the exploration phase-1.