Indian oil companies are exploring the possibility of using close to USD 600 million of their dividend income stranded in Russia to buy oil from that country, officials said on Thursday.
India’s top four oil companies — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), a unit of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Oil India Ltd and ONGC Videsh Ltd — haven’t been able to repatriate dividend income they accrue from their investments in Russian oil and gas fields. That money is lying in their bank accounts in Russia but could not be brought to India due to tough Western sanctions that followed Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
