Sudan wants ONGC Videsh to withdraw arbitration over oil payment dues

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Sudan wants India's ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) to withdraw arbitration proceedings against the African nation as it is making efforts to mitigate default on payment of dues, OVL said in a statement on Friday.

OVL, the foreign acquisition unit of Oil and Natural Gas Corp's (ONGC), filed an arbitration claim earlier this year against the government of Sudan in a London court seeking to recover dues pending for years from a project hit by the breakaway of South Sudan in 2011.

Earlier this week, a Sudanese delegation including its finance and foreign affairs minister met ONGC officials seeking withdrawal of the arbitration proceedings.

OVL, however, said it would continue with the arbitration process and work simultaneously with Sudan to find out a suitable mechanism of resolving the issues.

At the centre of the dispute is ONGC's 25 percent stake that the company had acquired in the Greater Nile Oil Project (GNOP) in Sudan in 2003. Other stakeholders include China's China National Petroleum Corp with a 40 percent stake and Malaysia's Petronas with a 30 percent share.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)