ONGC hopes to reclaim its 20% stake in the project in a couple of months after some 'terms and conditions' are fulfilled, Rajarshi Gupta, managing director of ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of ONGC, said at a news conference.
ONGC last year applied to the new Russian operator of Sakhalin-1 to retain its stake in the oil and gas project in the country's far east, a person familiar with the development said in November.
Gupta said ONGC Videsh is "not in a hurry" to repatriate its less than $100 million pending dividend from the Russian project and could consider reinvesting it the project.
ONGC Videsh also has a 26% in Russia's Vankorneft, a company that owns Vankor Field and North Vankor license.
Apart from Russia, ONGC's dividend is also pending from its stake in Venezuela's San Cristobal project in the Orinoco heavy oil belt.
Gupta said ONGC is in talks with U.S. authorities to get Venezuelan oil against its pending dividend. He did not elaborate on the amount that the Indian company is yet to receive form Venezuela.
Last year the Treasury gave Chevron Corp a license to expand operations in Venezuela and export crude to the United States.
ONGC, which has set a 2038 net zero goal, is hoping that gas output from its Mozambique project will start from 2026-27, its chairman A. K. Singh said. The project, operated by TotalEnergies, was initially slated to deliver its first cargo in 2024.
Services group Saipem said it was notified by Total to prepare for a restart in July.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Philippa Fletcher)
By Rajendra Jadhav and Nidhi Verma
