Indian state oil firm eyes tie-up with Russians.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

Text of report by Indian news agency PTI

New Delhi, 2 November: Taking a cue from the recent pact between Russia's Rosneft and CNPC of China, India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has proposed an exploration venture with Russian state-run firms to explore for oil in that country.

"We have proposed a joint venture with either Rosneft or Gazprom or both for exploration and production of oil and gas," said R.S. Butola, managing director of ONGC's overseas arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd [OVL].

Like the OAO Rosneft-China National Petroleum Corp venture, the Russian company would hold 51 per cent …