ONGC Videsh hopeful of resuming Venezuela operations as US moves to ease sanctions, liberalise crude trade

ONGC Videsh hopeful of resuming Venezuela operations as US moves to ease sanctions, liberalise oil trade

• ONGC Videsh hopes to restart Venezuela ops as US eases sanctions
• Company awaits formal approvals to resume oil field activities
• OVL targets 42.5 MT oil equivalent output for FY 2026-27

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ONGC Videsh is hopeful of restarting operations in Venezuela, as the US moves towards easing sanctions and stabilising the country's oil sector, Oil and Natural Gas Corp, of which OVL is a wholly owned subsidiary, said on February 13.

The company is awaiting formal approvals and instructions and the movement is in the positive direction, the management said in an investor call.

“On Venezuela, we understand that the US government is progressively lifting sanctions or is in the process of liberalising the trade from Venezuela and maybe allow other countries and companies also to start operations over there. We are awaiting those instructions as such,” ONGC said. “The movement is in the positive direction, and we are hopeful that we should be in a position to restart our operations once, the on ground and uh, US sanctions get lifted,” it said.

Moneycontrol earlier reported that India is holding government level discussions with Venezuela and the US over the stuck dividends of OVL in Venezuela after the United States ousted and captured Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

ONGC has stakes in two oil fields in Venezuela — 40 percent in Sancristobal with 11 percent in Carabobo. Due to the imposition of US sanctions, the company has not been able to receive the income for the past few years and has around $600 million of dividends stuck in the country. Both the projects are operated by Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., (PdVSA), which had earlier agreed to give oil to OVL instead of cash dividends.

These assets have remained underutilised for years due to sanctions, underinvestment, and payment constraints, with dividends and receivables effectively stranded.

In 2024, ONGC Videsh sought a "specific licence" to operate in Venezuela from the US department of treasury.

OVL is also optimistic that it will be able to receive its held up dividends in the Sakhalin-1 project in Russia with support of the Russian and Indian governments. OVL holds a 20 percent stake in the Sakhalin-1 project.

“For Shakhalin we continue to move ahead, along with the help of the Russian government and the Indian government. Our share of equity has been secured in that company, which is a very positive step as far as ONGC and OVL are concerned. And we are hopeful that during this coming year, we should be in a position to have a share of our held up dividends,” the company said.

For FY27, ONGC is targeting production of 42.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent including 21 million tonnes of oil output and 21.5 MT of gas. The company has charted out a Rs 32,000-33,000 crore capex plan for the coming fiscal.

Q3 report card

ONGC reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 11,946.42 crore in the December quarter, up 22 percent from the year-ago period. Revenue remained largely unchanged at Rs 1.67 lakh crore.