India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) will explore an oil block in Sri Lanka, said a Sri Lankan minister Wednesday.

Sri Lankan Minister of Railways, Transport and Petroleum A.H.M. Fowzie was quoted by Indo-Asian News Service as saying that the Sri Lankan government has awarded one of the eight exploration blocks to the Indian government and another to China without bidding.

The rest of the blocks will be given through bidding process in next three months, said Fowzie, who was here to attend the Petrotech 2007 exposition.

ONGC had promised to share its experience in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas with Sri Lanka.

The block lies in the Mannar basin between the southern tip of India and Sri Lanka's west coast.

Source: Xinhua