Murli Deora, who met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ahead of the Russian president's visit to India due in early December, expressed an interest in acquiring assets in the Sakhalin III oil and gas project off the Pacific coast, an official said.
The project to be operated by U.S. oil major Exxon and Russian state oil producer Rosneft has been plagued by disputes recently over the production sharing deal.
"He also expressed interest in establishing a joint venture between ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and Rosneft to produce oil in East Siberia," an official said.
India's state-run ONGC took over Russia's London-listed oil firm Imperial Energy with production licenses for fields in the Tomsk Region in August. The $2.6 billion deal needs the final approval of the Russian government.
The company already holds 20% in the Sakhalin I hydrocarbon project with recoverable reserves estimated at 315 million metric tons (2.3 billion barrels) of oil and 485 billion cu m of gas.
The Russian premier's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said Putin and Deora had discussed "the participation by Indian partners in Sakhalin I and the possibility of a greater presence for Indian companies in other oil and gas production and processing projects."
India, the third-largest oil consumer in Asia, imports 70% of its hydrocarbon needs.
