BP Plc is confident of raising output from the key gas field of Indian

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energy major Reliance Industries Ltd in about two years, a senior executive at the British company said on Tuesday.

In July, India's cabinet had approved Reliance's plan to sell 30 percent stake in 21 oil and gas blocks to BP as part of a $7.2 billion deal , making it one of the largest investments in India's oil and gas sector.

"We have just received the approval. We are studying the data. We are confident that there is more gas and output can be raised. But these things take time, it may take a couple of years," BP India head Sashi Mukundan said.

Reliance, the country's largest listed firm, has been under pressure over the past few months from an industry regulator and investors over slowing gas output from its main D6 block in the KG basin off India's east coast.

In May, the director general of hydrocarbons said the company was producing 48 mscmd (million standard cubic metres per day of gas) from the block, lower than 60 mscmd it produced last year and far off the planned peak capacity of 80 mscmd.

But India's approval of Reliance's plan to sell stake in some oil and gas blocks to BP is expected to aid the Indian company in boosting output from the deepwater blocks.

Shares in Reliance rose as much as 3.6 percent on Tuesday in the Mumbai market that was up 0.6 percent. The stock is down more than 20 percent so far this year, mainly triggered by concerns about slowing D6 output.