Greece's energy minister said on Tuesday that major Russian firms will take part in a Greek tender for deep-sea oil and gas exploration, after the cash-strapped country extended the bidding process by two months.

"In these tenders, big Russian firms will take part according to a commitment from the Russians," Energy Minister Panagiotis Lafazanis said at a news conference in Athens after returning from a two-day trip to Moscow.

Greece has given investors more time to submit their bids for deep-sea oil and gas exploration on 20 offshore blocks in the Ionian Sea and off southern Crete.

Lafazanis met his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak and Alexei Miller, the Chief Executive of energy giant Gazprom in Moscow on Monday, just over a week before Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is due to visit the Russian capital.

[Reuters]