indian oil firm eyes yukos assets india s biggest oil exploration firm  oil & natural gas corp (ongc)  says it is in talks to buy the former assets of troubled russian crude producer yukos.   we are in touch with the concerned russian entities about the yukos assets and other opportunities in russia   said ongc chairman subir raha. local press had reported that ongc was looking to buy 15% of yukos  former key oil production unit for $2bn (£1bn). yukos is being broken up by russian authorities to pay a massive tax bill.  it was forced to sell its key production unit yuganskneftegas (yugansk) last month after being hit with a bill of $27bn in unpaid taxes and fines.  state-owned rosneft now owns yugansk and russia has said it will turn the oil producer into a stand-alone firm. indian oil minister mani shankar aiyar discussed ongc s plans during a trip to moscow last year  and the topic came up again during russian president vladimir putin s recent visit to new delhi.  it would make great sense for us to build on that   said mr aiyar. india s oil production has stagnated over recent years  and it is having to look abroad to secure future supplies. india imports about 70% of its total oil consumption. at the same time  india s economy is booming and the country s thirst for oil is so strong that it has helped pushed up the price of crude worldwide.  india produces about 793 000 barrels of oil per day (bpd)  little changed since the start of the 1990s  according to oil industry analysts douglas-westwood. consumption  meanwhile  has jumped to 2.4 million bpd  compared with 474 000 bpd in 1973.   for countries to develop  they have to have access to energy   said john westwood  managing director of oil industry analysts douglas-westwood. india is a  dramatically growing economy that must have access to oil . by buying into yugansk  ongc would be able to reduce its dependence on gulf states for oil imports  mr westwood explained  especially as the chances of finding and exploiting resources within india are slim.  we forecast that indian production will go into significant decline   mr westwood said.  by 2020  production may only be at half of today s levels.  ongc  which is majority-owned by the indian state  already has bought petroleum assets in countries including vietnam  sudan and russia. the company is a partner with rosneft in the sakhalin-1 oil field off russia s siberian coast.  ongc is  however  not the only firm interested in yugansk.  chinese crude company china national petroleum has also been mentioned as a possible investor  while on thursday  italy refused to rule out an interest. ongc s interest is the latest twist in a saga that has seen one of the world s biggest oil producers brought to its knees. the dispute is partly driven by president putin s clampdown on the political ambitions of ex-yukos boss mikhail khodorkovsky  who is currently in jail on charges of fraud and tax evasion. yukos has been battling the russian authorities for more than a year and has filed for bankruptcy protection in the us. analysts have questioned how long it can continue to survive without yugansk. on thursday  a us court said it will hear arguments for yukos  bankruptcy claim to be thrown out on 16 february. should that happen  yukos will have little chance of clawing back its assets  analysts said.