India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is negotiating to take over operations at two Venezuelan oil projects where its overseas arm is owed more than 500 million dollars in dividends. Finance director Anupam Agarwal told analysts on Friday that ONGC Videsh is in advanced discussions with Venezuelan and United States authorities and expects agreements to be finalised within three to six months.
ONGC Videsh holds a 40 percent participating interest in the San Cristobal project, with Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA holding the remaining 60 percent, and Agarwal said the company expects to become sole operator there. At PetroCarabobo, in the Orinoco heavy-oil belt, ONGC Videsh holds 11 percent and would take joint operatorship with other investors; Indian companies together hold 18 percent of that project and Spain’s Repsol holds 11 percent.
ONGC is currently an investor in both projects, not their operator. The proposed agreements would give it control over field operations, production, marketing of output and handling of revenues. Agarwal said the pending dividends of more than 500 million dollars from the two projects are likely to be adjusted once the new operator agreements are finalised, and that the arrangements could also allow ONGC to acquire interests in additional Venezuelan fields.
The talks follow a United States licensing path that has already let Chevron outline more than 7 billion dollars of Venezuelan investment over five years and given Eni and Repsol expanded operating roles. Venezuela’s producing capacity remains far below its potential, with only two drilling rigs active in the country as of August by Baker Hughes data cited by Rystad Energy, so operatorship carries a heavy rehabilitation bill alongside the control it confers.
Nothing is signed. The dividend recovery mechanism has not been determined, and the three-to-six-month timeline is the company’s expectation, not a committed closing date.