New Delhi, Sep 21 (IANS) India and China have jointly acquired oil exploration assets in Colombia through buyout of a subsidiary of Texas-based Omimex Resources in an $850 million deal, state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) said Thursday.

"A 50:50 joint venture - comprising a subsidiary of ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) and a subsidiary of Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation (SIPC) - has acquired Omimex de Colombia Ltd. (Omimex), from Texas-based Omimex Resources, Inc," the official statement said.

This is the first acquisition made jointly by ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of ONGC and SIPC.

Omimex has oil and gas operations exclusively in Colombia, which include onshore production and exploration areas with gross proved reserves of more than 300 million barrels of oil.

The current production is around 20,000 barrels of oil per day.

Omimex's assets constitute a 100 percent interest in the light oil Velasquez fee mineral property and a 50 percent interest in the Nare and Cocorna association contracts, with the Colombian national oil company Ecopetrol S.A. (Ecopetrol) holding the remaining 50 percent stake.

The Colombian company also fully owns the Velasquez-Galan pipeline, which runs 189 kilometres from the Velasquez property to Ecopetrol's Barrancabermeja refinery.