Indian Investment Team Visits Venezuela to Review Oil Assets Following US Approval

A team from the international investment arm of India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corp. has arrived in Venezuela to review assets in the country, according to people familiar with the matter, weeks after the company received a green light from the US.

During a seven-day stay that began on Tuesday, a team of nearly a dozen officials from state-run ONGC Videsh Ltd., or OVL, plans to see oil fields and meet Venezuelan energy officials, the people said. It will be the first such visit in years, they added.

OVL received the US government’s approval in July, a step that removes sanctions-related restrictions and allows the company to resume oil and gas operations in Venezuela, where it owns stakes in San Cristobal and Carabobo-1 project.

OVL is in discussions to sign a framework agreement with Venezuela and is keen to become operator of both the projects, the company’s managing director, Rajarshi Gupta, told reporters in New Delhi earlier this week: “We do believe both the assets have substantial chance and possibility of multiplying production.”

The tour comes as US Energy Secretary Chris Wright arrives in Venezuela to announce a series of deals aimed at ramping up the nation’s oil fields, in part to ease pressure on global crude prices, driven higher by disruption in the Persian Gulf.

OVL holds a 40% stake in Venezuela’s San Cristobal field and 11% in the Carabobo-1 block. India’s state-run Indian Oil Corp. and Oil India Ltd. each hold 3.5% in Carabobo-1.

The Indian visit is also happening as sales from Venezuela to the world’s third-largest oil importer recover from years of sanctions. Exports to India more than doubled in August from a low base, even though refiners were forced to cut back as Ukrainian attacks disrupted Russian oil flows.

OVL is negotiating the fiscal terms, operating terms, subsurface conditions for evaluation with Venezuela, Gupta said.

“We are fully engaged with Venezuela at very high levels and we do expect this framework agreement and follow-up detailed agreements, taking over operatorship and enhancing the production, will happen sooner than later,” Gupta said.