Vast reserves of oil and natural gas have been discovered in Barmer district of Rajasthan putting the state on the oil map of the world.

According to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, this is the biggest oil reserve found in the country after 22 years and was being counted among the first hundred oil reserve areas of the world.

Raje was speaking at the loan contract function of Cairns Energy, a Scottish company that has taken $1 billion loan from the International Syndicate Bank Group for the development of oil areas in the state.

The chief minister expressed the hope that the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) would soon set up oil refinery in Barmer, which would open avenues for investment in the area and industrial units based on petroleum.