BEIJING — China and India have agreed to share information on what they're paying for foreign oil and gas for their energy-hungry economies in an effort to tone down a multibillion-dollar rivalry that was driving up asset prices abroad, the Chinese government announced.

The agreement was among five energy cooperation deals signed yesterday during a visit to Beijing by Indian Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, the government said.

Beijing and New Delhi promised to exchange information when bidding for oil resources abroad.

"Unbridled rivalry between Indian and Chinese companies is only to the advantage of the seller," China's official Xinhua News Agency quoted Aiyar as saying.

Chinese companies have been bidding aggressively for foreign oil and gas in areas as far-flung as Africa and South America as Beijing tries to secure energy supplies.

India's effort is on a smaller scale, but its energy demands are expected to soar in coming years as its economy grows.

In December, the biggest state-owned oil companies of the two countries — China National Petroleum Corp. and India's Oil & Natural Gas Corp. — agreed to jointly acquire oil production rights in Syria in their first collaborative venture.

That came after the Chinese company won a bidding war with its Indian rival for an oil producer in the central Asian republic of Kazakhstan.

CNPC agreed to pay $4.2 billion for Canada-based Petro-Kazakstan Inc. in China's biggest foreign corporate acquisition to date.