Urals Energy, the Aim-listed oil and gas company, is set to make one of the biggest acquisitions of oil assets by an independent company in Russia, with the backing of the country's largest bank.

Urals, currently valued at £300m, has agreed to acquire up to 39 per cent of TaasYuriakh Neftegazodobycha, a privately owned Russian company with assets in the oil-rich east of Siberia.