The reporters on Monday were informed by an oil ministry official on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference that ONGC Videsh is close to buying a stake of up to 40 percent in the Satpayev block in Kazakhstan.

The deal has yet not been finalized. It was further revealed by reliable sources that during a visit to India by Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the next few weeks, the deal might be signed.

With the aim to secure energy supplies for India, which imports 70 percent of the oil it consumes, ONGC Videsh, the overseas arm of state-run explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp., has bought stakes in projects in several countries.

It should be noted here that oil and gas blocks in Vietnam, Sudan, Russia, Syria and Colombia is owned by ONGC Videsh, which has also made discoveries in Egypt, Qatar, Brazil and Myanmar.

A memorandum of understanding with ONGC was signed by the Kazakh government in 2005. The MoU which was signed for the offshore block Satpayev with estimated reserves of 1.85 billion barrels, did not reach a stable agreement.