India could invest up to $ one billion in the coming years in Russian oil and gas sector to ensure stable supplies of hydrocarbons for domestic market, diplomatic sources said here.

They said the Indian Petroleum Minister V K Ramamurthy would arrive here tomorrow on a three-day official visit to negotiate several major oil and natural gas deals with Russia so as to meet New Delhi's growing energy requirements well beyond the year 2000.

India is also willing to invest about $40 million in the onshore and offshore exploration of hydrocarbons in the Sakhalin-2 project in Russia's far-east, the sources said.

The Minister is also likely to hold negotiations with president of the world's largest natural gas monopoly "Gazprom" Rem Vyakhirev and president of a leading Russian oil company "Lukoil" Vahid Alekperov onconcrete projects for exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits, they said.