Warren Buffett, chief executive officer of  Berkshire Hathway Inc, has denied that he had invested $1 billion in the ONGC issue, though the market was abuzz throughout the day that he had placed bids for half the size of the issue.

"Normally we don't comment, but this statement is being erroneously used in promotion of a new issue,'' Buffett said in a statement through his spokeswoman Debbie Bosanek in Omaha, Nebraska.

"The truth is Berkshire never considered buying shares in India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp."

There have been rumours over the past year of Buffet's interest in the Indian stock markets, especially in the oil sector, but these have never been verified.

Since Buffet's companies are not registered in India, the only way he can invest is through participatory notes.

The only Asian company in which Buffet has invested in is China Petro.