India's ONGC Buying Imperial Energy

India's biggest oil producer, ONGC, has agreed to buy Imperial Energy for $2.6bn but it may face a battle to secure the deal.

Imperial has access to resource-rich Russian oilfields and analysts say that ONGC is looking to secure supplies of oil to fuel India's booming economy.

However, Chinese oil giant Sinopec is reported to be contemplating a counter bid for London-listed Imperial.

Sinopec confirmed interest, but said it was yet to decide whether to pursue it.