ONGC Videsh gets first installment of $19 million from Venezuela

By Nidhi Verma

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp has received the first installment of $19 million from Venezuela's state oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela towards recovering pending dividend, a senior company official said.

PDVSA and ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas investment of arm of state-run explorer ONGC, last year signed a deal allowing the Indian firm to get 17,000 barrels per day of oil to recover dues of about $540 million.

"PDVSA is marketing our share of oil. Every month we will get an installment," N. K. Verma, managing director of ONGC Videsh told Reuters late on Monday. He said price of crude from San Cristobal project is market linked.

ONGC has 40 percent stake in the project with PDVSA holding the remainder. ONGC has invested $200 million in the San Cristobal field and has not received any dividend since 2009.

Verma said the field is currently producing about 21,000-22,000 bpd and the partners plan to raise production to 27,000-30,000 bpd by using water injection techniques.

The OPEC nation's oil output has slipped as low crude prices and an economic crisis have left it struggling to obtain resources for investment in its oilfields, which hold the world's largest petroleum reserves.

The two companies have also decided that ONGC will arrange a loan of $320 for mobilising resources to boost oil output from the field.

"We are working out modalities and after getting required approvals we will go ahead with fund raising plan," Verma said, adding financing of the project would be done in six months.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Swati Bhat)