Petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is arriving here on Saturday on a four-day visit during which he is to address an international energy forum besides holding talks with Russian oil majors

Indian petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is arriving here on Saturday on a four-day visit during which he is to address an international energy forum besides holding talks with Russian oil majors. Mr Aiyar’s visit would set the “energy agenda” for the summit between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian president Vladimir Putin in December in New Delhi, diplomatic sources said. During the visit, Mr Aiyar would meet Alexei Miller, the CEO of world’s largest natural gas company Gazprom and the leadership of other Russian oil majors, the sources said. With the soaring oil prices in the world market, Russia has become a hot spot for long-term investment in energy sector. India’s ONGC Videsh Limited - the overseas arm of ONGC has already invested $1.7 billion in Russia’s Sakhalin-1 offshore bloc on production sharing basis and is looking for more investment opportunities. During the last India-Russia summit in Moscow in November 2003, then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Mr Putin had agreed on “closer business dialogue” on energy.