A technician is pictured inside a desalter plant of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) on the outskirts of Ahmedabad on September 30, 2016. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
India’s flagship abroad agency ONGC Videsh has less than $100 million of dividend earnings mendacity in Russia due to Ukraine battle however the firm will not be in a rush to carry it again, a senior official mentioned on May 29.
Indian state oil corporations have invested $5.46 billion in shopping for stakes in 4 totally different property in Russia. These embrace a 49.9% stake in the Vankorneft oil and fuel area and one other 29.9% in the TAAS-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha fields.
They get dividends on income made by the working consortium from promoting oil and fuel produced from the fields.
Soon after invading Ukraine in February final yr, Russia put restrictions on repatriation of {dollars} to verify volatility in international alternate charges.
Also learn | ONGC Videsh bids to retake 20% stake in Russia’s Sakhalin-1
OVL, the abroad arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), obtained its final dividend again in July 2022. One dividend payout that got here after that’s mendacity in the corporate’s account in Russia.
Its managing director Rajarshi Gupta mentioned the dividend earnings mendacity in Russia is “less than $100 million.”
“We are not in a hurry to get it back as the company has capital and operating expenses for the three projects in Russia,” he mentioned. “It is business as usual as far as dividend is concerned.”
OVL holds curiosity in Russia by means of a Singapore subsidiary.
Moscow declared Singapore as an unfriendly nation final yr and so cash from Russia can’t movement to any firm integrated in that nation.
He mentioned the corporate is proper banking channels and discussions are on. Last week, Oil India officers mentioned $300 million dividend earnings of the corporate and its companions are stuck in Russia.
Also learn | India’s ONGC sells Russia’s Sokol oil to Indian refiners- sources
The consortium of OIL, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Bharat PetroResources Ltd has stakes in two tasks.
The $300 million dividend was mendacity with the Commercial Indo Bank LLC (CIBL), which was a three way partnership of State Bank of India and Canara Bank. Canara Bank in March offered its 40% stake in CIBL to SBI.
The dividend from TAAS was paid on a quarterly foundation, whereas Vankorneft’s earnings have been paid half-yearly. The Indian corporations are choices of tips on how to repatriate the cash from Russia, he mentioned.
OVL holds a 26% stake in Suzunskoye, Tagulskoye and Lodochnoye fields — collectively often called the Vankor cluster in the north-eastern a part of West Siberia.
Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Oil India Ltd (OIL) and Bharat PetroResources Ltd (a unit of Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd or BPCL) maintain one other 23.9% in Vankor. Russia’s Rosneft is the operator with 50.1% curiosity.
Also learn | OVL retakes 20% stake in Sakhalin-1 oil, fuel fields
The consortium of OIL, IOC and Bharat PetroResources has a 29.9% stake in TAAS-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha. The operations of the fields haven’t been impacted and so they proceed to provide as regular.
OVL additionally has a 20% stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and fuel area in Far East Russia, and in 2009 acquired Imperial Energy, which has fields in Siberia, for $2.1 billion.
OVL, which has 32 oil and fuel properties in 15 nations from Venezuela to Vietnam, had seen oil manufacturing fall to six.349 million tonne in 2022-23 fiscal (April 2022 to March 2023) from 8.099 million tonne in the earlier yr.
Gas output additionally dipped to three.822 billion cubic meters from 4.231 bcm in 2021-22. The decrease manufacturing was due to halting of operations at Sakhalin-1 for seven months after operator Exxon declared drive majure put up Ukraine warfare.
But increased oil costs assist it put up a web revenue of ₹1,700 crore in FY23 as in opposition to a PAT of ₹1,589 crore in the earlier fiscal.
