A refinery owned by Citgo, a subsidiary of Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA. Credit: Scott Olson via Getty images.

Venezuela has agreed to export oil to India’s OVL in lieu of its pending $600m (Rs49.99bn) dividend for a stake in the South American country’s project, India’s Oil Secretary Pankaj Jain told local reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday. 

OVL looks after the foreign investment of India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). It also holds a 40% stake in the San Cristobal field in eastern Venezuela’s Orinoco Heavy Oil belt, while Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, holds the remainder.

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“They have agreed to give us some oil in lieu of OVL’s dues. We are waiting for (lifting) dates from them,” Jain said. 

The company did not immediately respond to Offshore Technology’s email request for comment. 

However, in an email to Reuters, the company said it was exploring options, including the allocation of oil by PDVSA to restore the dividend. The San Cristobal project owes dividends worth $600m to OVL. 

“Post easing of US sanction, OVL is in continuous dialogue with PDVSA for recovery of accrued dividend by various mechanisms including allocation of crude cargoes in lieu of accrued dividend,” the company told Reuters. 

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Indian refiners have resumed Venezuelan oil purchases after the US suspended its sanctions on Venezuela for six months in October last year.  

In November, Offshore Technology reported that Venezuela’s oil exports remained roughly the same despite the easing of US sanctions, enabling sales to trade houses.

PDVSA also negotiated cargo sales bound for India through intermediaries in the same month.