India in talks with US, Venezuela over ONGC Videsh’s $600 million stuck dividends
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. PANAJI : India has initiated government-to-government (G2G) level talks with the United States and Venezuela to resolve the issue of $600 million in dividends stuck in Venezuela for state-run ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), said two people aware of the development. OVL, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has held a 40% stake in the San Cristobal Project in Venezuela since 2008, with the country’s state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) owning the remaining 60%.
A PDVSA team is currently in India to discuss the long-pending issue. The outcome of these talks will determine whether India can recover $600 million of stranded overseas earnings, revive access to one of the world’s largest oil reserves, and potentially lower its crude import bill. “G2G talks are underway between the three countries.
So far, no conclusion has been reached, but it is expected that things will move fast," said one of the two people cited above, requesting anonymity. The dividends have been due since the tenure of late President Hugo Chávez, when earnings from PDVSA were appropriated to fund social spending. Subsequent US sanctions sharply curtailed production at San Cristobal and blocked the repatriation of dividends.
New Delhi’s earlier efforts to secure a sanctions waiver or receive oil instead of dollar payments have not yielded results. Separately, OVL has partnered with Indian Oil Corp. Ltd and Oil India Ltd in the Carabobo-1 project, where output has also been affected by US sanctions.
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