India’s economy is expected to grow between 7 and 8% per year for the next two decades, according to Singh.

"To fuel this growth, India's energy consumption, at a conservative estimate, will increase 5 percent per annum up to 2010 or 2011," he said.

Singh said that by then, India would emerge as the world's fourth-largest consumer of energy after the US, China and Japan, according to a Reuters report.

Currently India produces only 30% of its hydrocarbon needs, so it is seeking stakes in foreign projects to help meet its growing energy demands.

India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp, or ONGC, already owns a 20% stake in Russia's Sakhalin-1 project and has said it was considering a stake in Sakhalin-3 and buying a share of Yukos' oil assets.

The Moscow Times reports that ONGC has been offered 20% of Yuganskneftegaz, Yukos' main production unit, which Moscow sold last month to cover part of a $20-billion-plus tax debt. Yugansk was sold for $9 billion to a shell company later acquired by state-owned Rosneft, which is now racing to refinance the short-term loans it took out for the purchase.

India has longstanding links with the Russian oil and gas sector. During the Cold War India was closely aligned to the Soviet Union and the USSR help India explore for petroleum and build refineries during this period.

India was also looking for energy stakes in Latin America and Africa, according to Singh.

Earlier this week, India said it was considering merging its 14 oil and gas companies, including ONGC, to boost overseas exploration and catch up with China in securing energy supplies.