(Adds comments from ONGC chairman and analyst, background) By Rakesh Sharma Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW DELHI (Dow Jones)--Oil & Natural Gas Corp. (500312.BY) has expressed its interest to Vietnam Oil and Gas Group, or PetroVietnam, to buy BP PLC's (BP) stake in a gas block in Vietnam, the chairman of the state-run Indian explorer said Thursday. "Yesterday (Wednesday), we have indicated our willingness to PetroVietnam to buy BP's stake. Let us see now," R.S. Sharma told Dow Jones Newswires. He said BP has informed PetroVietnam about its plan to exit the Nam Con Son gas project in the Southeast Asian country. BP announced Tuesday that it has agreed to sell assets in the U.S., Canada and Egypt to U.S. oil company Apache Corp. (APA) for $7 billion. BP said also it plans to sell gas fields and a pipeline in Vietnam, as well as exploration licenses in Pakistan to help pay for damages related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The Nam Con Son project includes Lan Tay and Lan Do gas fields in Block 06.1 as well as a pipeline and the gas-fired Phu My power plant. ONGC's overseas investment arm, ONGC Videsh Ltd., acquired the exploration license for block 06.1 in 1988. But it sold a part of its stake later to BP and PetroVietnam. Currently, BP holds a 35% stake in the block and is also the operator. ONGC owns 45% while PetroVietnam has the remainder. Tom Grieder, IHS Global Insight's energy analyst, said in a note that both ONGC and PetroVietnam are likely to try and bolster their stakes in the project. Grieder said Vietgazprom, a joint venture between PetroVietnam and Russia's Gazprom, and Canada's Talisman Energy could also be interested in buying BP's stake. Talisman is looking to pursue gas-to-power projects in the Nam Con Son basin and grow its operations in Vietnam, Grieder said. ONGC's Sharma declined to disclose the valuation of BP's stake in the gas block, but said ONGC has the resources to buy BP's stake. Sharma said in February that ONGC may invest between $25 billion and $30 billion over the next 10 years to buy and develop energy assets overseas as part of efforts to obtain 20 million metric tons a year, or 402,000 barrels a day, of oil and oil-equivalent gas from overseas assets by 2020. ONGC Videsh produced 6.49 million tons of crude oil and 2.38 billion cubic meters of gas in the financial year ended March 31. -By Rakesh Sharma, Dow Jones Newswires; +91-11-4356-3334; rakesh.sharma@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 22, 2010 02:11 ET (06:11 GMT)