The state-run Indian Oil Corp and Oil India Ltd have won a licence to look for oil in Libya in their first joint foray overseas, a report said Monday. The two companies won a bid to explore onshore Block-086 in "the highly prospective Sirte basin," the Press Trust of India news agency quoted Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) officials as saying. IOC and Oil India forged an alliance last month to look for oil and gas in other countries.

Under the terms of the licence, IOC and Oil India will get 18.4 percent of any future production in the block, with the remaining 81.6 percent going to Libya's national oil company, PTI said.

If oil is found in the licence area, Libya, which is a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, will fund half of the exploration and development costs.

Oil India will be the operator of the block, part of the first offering of concessions by Libya after the lifting of US sanctions, the report said.

Three US oil companies won 11 of the 15 Libyan oil exploration and production sharing agreements contested by 56 international companies, it said.

Indian officials said the companies will bid for at least two out of the 40 licenses Libya proposes to offer in a second round next month, it added.

Oil India and another Indian state-run company ONGC Videsh won exploration rights in Iran's offshore Farsi block in 2002.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005