Burma has signed contracts with India's Essar Oil Limited for onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration in western parts of the military-ruled country.
Hsan Lwin, managing director of the state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, and Essar Oil Managing Director A. N. Sinha signed the production-sharing contracts in Rangoon Saturday.
Essar is the first foreign company to sign an onshore oil and gas production agreement with Burma since the government announced in March that all onshore blocks would be reserved for its own oil company.
Officials have not revealed how Essar won the contract despite the ban.
Information for this report is provided by AP.