India’s flagship overseas firm ONGC Videsh has less than USD 100 million of dividend income lying in Russia because of Ukraine conflict but the company is not in a hurry to bring it back, a senior official said on Monday. Indian state oil firms have invested USD 5.46 billion in buying stakes in four different assets in Russia. These include a 49.9 per cent stake in the Vankorneft oil and gas field and another 29.9 per cent in the TAAS-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha fields. They get dividends on profits made by the operating consortium from selling oil and gas produced from the fields. Soon after invading Ukraine in February last year, Russia put restrictions on repatriation of dollars to check volatility in foreign exchange rates.
OVL, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), got its last dividend back in July 2022. One dividend payout that came after that is lying in the company’s account in Russia. Its managing director Rajarshi Gupta said the dividend income lying in Russia is “less than USD 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 said.
