Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC) and GAIL (India) Ltd. were reported to be constructing a plan to purchase at least a part of Exxon Mobil Corp.'s stake in Kazakhstan's Kashagan oil field, which is another effort by the South Asian country to secure energy assets for its expanding economy.

GAIL Chairman, B. C. Tripathi stated that the two companies were working on the plan, though he did not reveal the amount of Exxon’s stake in Kashanghan they were willing to purchase, as no decision has been made yet.

However, ONGC is said to be India's flagship oil explorer while GAIL is the country's largest gas distributor as per their market share. Also, it has been reported that a non-binding bid has been submitted to Exxon to buy up to half of its 16.8% stake in the oil field.

Kazakhstan is expected to become part of the world's top 10 oil producers by 2025, and India has shown interest in the country’s energy asset, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev have emphasized the importance of energy cooperation between the two countries.

Kazakhstan anticipates its Kashagan oil field, in the northern part of the Caspian Sea, to begin production by the end of 2012, as it’s expected to attain ”1.0 million tons in the second phase of development and 1.5 million tons in the third phase”.