India’s Reliance Industries on Tuesday said it has received formal approval from the Indian government to sell a 30 percent stake in some of its oil and gas blocks to BP for £4.39 billion.
The sale is one of the largest foreign direct investments in India since the country started opening up its economy to the world two decades ago.
India last month gave the green light to the deal, clearing the way for the energy giant to help explore and produce oil from hard-to-exploit deepwater reserves off India’s coast and on Tuesday handed over formal notification of its approval.
“BP will take 30 percent stake in 21 oil and gas production sharing contracts that Reliance operates in India, including the producing KG-D6 block,” Reliance said in a statement.
“Following the approval, Reliance and BP will work together to conclude the deal expeditiously,” included the statement.