State-run gas company GAIL India Ltd is in talks to buy a stake in Ophir Energy’s assets in Tanzania, the company’s Marketing Head, Prabhat Singh has said.

GAIL is keen to buy part of Ophir Energy Plc’s remaining 20 percent stake in blocks 1, 3 and 4, which holds an estimated 15 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas reserves in Tanzania.

“We are in talks irrespective of Singapore’s Pavilion Energy reportedly buying half of Ophir’s stake. We continue to be in dialogue,” Singh said on the sidelines of 8th Asia Gas Partnership Summit.

The New Delhi-based gas firm may buy up to 30 percent of the stake for an estimated $600 million.

Ophir Energy, a UK oil and gas explorer in Africa, has been seeking partners to share costs in Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya and Tanzania after exploration was slower than forecast.

In a related development, the company has jumped the most in 7 months in London after making public intentions to sell its assets in the East African country.

Ophir rose 9.1 percent, the biggest gain since March 5, to 326.70 pence and was the best performer on the Stoxx Europe 600 Oil & Gas Index.