Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the national oil company of India, witnessed a sharp rise in share price on Friday after the company said its arm received a one-year extension to explore in a Vietnam oil block in the contested waters of the South China Sea.

'ONGC Videsh had applied extension of block to the Petrovietnam on 28th May, 2015. In response of ONGC Videsh request, Petrovietnam has granted extension of the block upto June 15, 2016,' it said.

Shares of ONGC are trading at Rs 244.40, up Rs 13.65, or 5.92% at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Friday at 12:44 p.m.

The scrip has touched an intra-day high of Rs 246.25 and low of Rs 238.10. The total volume of shares traded at the BSE is 461,095.

Total volume of shares traded on the bourses today was higher by 56.60% to 5,288,950 compared with 22-day average volume of 3,377,261.