"The bank has enhanced its expertise in the global oil and gas sector and now offers a full range of advisory and financing services for refineries, liquefied natural gas, pipelines and petrochemical in India," ANZ oil and gas head Caroline Brown said here on Monday.

The domestic market for LNG holds a great potential owing to the large pent-up demand for natural gas here, she said.

To meet the rising demand from the sector, ANZ has set up a dedicated team of staff with expertise in the oil and natural gas sector, bank officials said.

Till now, the bank was meeting the sector's demand from its London office only.

"We will now have a team of dedicated staff operating from our Mumbai and Delhi offices to meet the demands from the sector," ANZ officials said.

ANZ has strong fund-arranging credentials and in the recent years it hadmobilised close to $2 billion for India's petrochemical sector alone, Brown said.

ANZ Investment officials said they were well placed to assist companies in the public sector like Indian Oil, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) among others.

"We continue to be the leading arranger of cross-border debt for Indian public sector, private corporates and financial institutions," Abhay Rangnekar, head of banks project and structured finance activities, said.

ANZ Investment Bank was recently mandated by the government to act as the global advisor for the strategic sale of modern foods. An agreement to this effect was signed by the government officials and the bank last week.

The bank is the investment banking arm of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd.