The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of Commerce has granted a license to ONGC, India's largest state-owned oil and gas corporation, to invest in the Venezuelan oil industry.
The license facilitates ONGC's expansion in Venezuela, its participation in oil production in the country and the signing of bilateral cooperation agreements in this area, which were previously limited by US sanctions against Caracas. “We now have complete freedom to work on the project in Venezuela, which was limited by risks due to US sanctions. "Now those risks are behind us," ONGC Chief Financial Officer Anupam Agarwal told the newspaper.
The US license will allow the corporation to manage investments in Venezuelan projects and receive dividends already earned in the amount of $ 500 million. "ONGC is very interested in developing cooperation with Venezuela, which has proven oil reserves estimated at 303 billion barrels," Agarwal said.
Venezuela was India's fifth largest oil supplier until 2019, supplying approximately 16 million tons. However, after the imposition of US sanctions on Caracas, New Delhi did not buy energy from the Bolivarian Republic for nearly seven years, which led to a significant decline in trade between the two countries. Following the easing of US sanctions in April 2026, Venezuela became one of India's largest oil suppliers.
Experts believe that Venezuelan oil offers India a politically acceptable option to diversify its import sources amid rising US tariffs and ongoing conflict in the Middle East.