Companies from China and India have already approached Rosneft about investing, Rosneft chief executive officer Sergei Bogdanchikov said. His expectations are higher than the $15-billion forecast by Russian Economy Minister German Gref in November. The plans come as Mr. Putin parlays Russia's oil wealth into an increasing role in an energy-hungry world economy. Opening Rosneft, the nation's third-largest oil company, to outside investors will allow Mr. Bogdanchikov to repay debt and help finance a drive to build a company that in 10 years will produce as much crude as Kuwait does today. "Twenty billion [dollars] sounds pretty aggressive," said Mattias Westman, chief executive officer of Prosperity Capital Management, which manages $2-billion in Russian stocks. The sale will occur later this year, Mr. Bogdanchikov said. The state oil producer is holding presentations for investors and was approached by companies from countries including China and India about buying shares, he said, without elaborating. Rosneft has grown after it bought the biggest unit that was seized from OAO Yukos Oil Co. Mr. Putin has increased government control over the energy industry and reserved the best prospects for domestic companies, while governments in Asia seek more reserves to feed their growing economies. The Rosneft sale will create another company for investors in Russia, after the sale of a controlling stake in OAO Sibneft to state-run OAO Gazprom and the dismantling of Yukos reduced the prospects for buying shares in the industry. Rosneft needs cash to reduce the $11-billion of debt it had as of September and invest in new projects to raise output by 67 per cent in 2015 to 2.5 million barrels a day -- about what comes from Kuwait today. Rosneft plans to expand projects in Russia's eastern Siberian, Timan-Pechora region and farther east to raise exports to Asia and the U.S., and to boost profit. The Russian government ended plans for Gazprom, Russia's largest company by market value, to take over Rosneft, according to Mr. Bogdanchikov. The government said in September, 2004, it would raise its stake in Gazprom by selling Rosneft and then controlling the combined entity. A $20-billion initial public offering would exceed the $18.4-billion sale of Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc. in 1998. PIN/BLOOMBERG