NEW DELHI, Feb 19: India is stepping up efforts to buy stakes in Russian oilfields and is poised to invest in oil and gas projects in Kazakhstan as a part of its strategy to secure energy supplies for its booming economy, officials said.

Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar visited Kazakhstan this week to pitch for investments ranging from oil exploration to refining and petrochemicals and will arrive in Moscow on Monday for the second time in four months to discuss projects.

India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd's overseas subsidiary ONGC Videsh already has a stake in Russia's Sakhalin-1 project and is eyeing stakes in assets of Russia's Yukos and is also keen to participate in the Vankor oilfield.

"There are a number of fields including those mentioned earlier. I am optimistic," Aiyar told Reuters on Saturday. Aiyar said he saw Russia helping India in its quest for energy security in the same way as the former Soviet Union had backed India politically and militarily, accounting for more than two-thirds of India's arms supplies.

Analysts said historic ties would help India to some extent. "India's old business ties with Russia certainly give it an edge but in the end pragmatic issues will take precedence," said Ian Woolen, senior analyst at consultants Wood Mackenzie.

"The trick will be in the details of the deal and what can be worked on the political level. China, for instance, has had a particularly difficult time in securing opportunities in Russia."

Oil ministry officials said Russia and Kazakhstan were key countries in India's search for foreign petroleum assets. "We see Kazakhstan and Russia as strategically important.

We have strong ties with Iran and we can get oil from Kazakhstan via Iran," Petroleum Secretary SC Tripathi, the country's top oil bureaucrat, told reporters on Saturday.

He said India's strong ties with Iran would help its foray into Kazakhstan. India recently signed an agreement to import 7.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year from Iran and is in talks about a pipeline across Pakistani territory to import Iranian gas.

"We are negotiating projects worth $10 billion with Iran," Tripathi said. Aiyar said his visit to Kazakhstan augured well for India's involvement in the country's hydrocarbon sector as Kazakh officials welcomed Indian proposals.

"What they have said is: 'We will begin with one major project.' We have put our wish list on the table," he said. "There has been a huge, huge breakthrough at the conceptual and approach level. I think things are going to happen," he said.

A government statement said ONGC Videsh had signed an agreement with a state-run oil firm in Kazakhstan to identify projects and negotiate commercial terms in the next year.

Both countries also agreed to "examine the possibilities" of joint ventures in gas processing and petrochemicals and the development of facilities to connect oil and gas from Kazakhstan to what could eventually be an Asian pipeline grid, it said.

Indian and Chinese oil firms already have sunk billions of dollars into projects around the world, including countries such as Sudan that are off-limits to oil majors, and picked up scraps hived off by cost-cutting Western oil companies.

India, which imports 70 per cent of its crude oil requirement, has stakes in oil and gas projects in countries such as Myanmar, Sudan, Russia, Libya and Australia. -Reuters