Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) on Friday hit a deal to acquire a 10 per cent stake in Progress Energy Resources Corp's shale gas assets and a linked liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in British Columbia for $900 million.

IOC, which previously ventured into foreign oil & gas projects with state-run explorer OIL India, hit the deal with Petronas on its own.

Announcing the deal, Petronas said, "IOC has also agreed to offtake 1.2 million tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per annum, which represents 10 per cent of the LNG facility's production, for a minimum period of 20 years."

Petronas International Corp is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Malaysia's state oil firm Petroliam Nasional Bhd. The Malaysian firm had acquired Canada's Progress Energy Resources Corp for C$5.2 billion in 2011 to get the Altares, Lily and Kahta shale gas assets in the north-eastern part of British Columbia.

In March last year, the firm offloaded a tenth of its stake in the integrated shale gas development plus LNG project to Japex (Japan Petroleum Exploration Co) and another 3 per cent stake to Petroleum Brunei.

Following the transaction with IOC, Petronas will own 77 per cent stake in the integrated project. The $900 million deal marks IOC's maiden entry into North America.