"More Oil for India!" MEA Confirms Active Engagement With Venezuela for Energy Security as ONGC Eyes Major Oil Output!

In a major development for India's energy diplomacy, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal affirmed that India continues to actively engage with Venezuela to source crude oil and strengthen national energy security. Responding to media questions in New Delhi regarding state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) securing a specific license from the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Jaiswal stated: "On the question of ONGC, I don't know exactly what the position is. But on sourcing oil from Venezuela, I told you that we are engaging with Venezuela to strengthen our energy security."
The MEA's remarks come as ONGC is set to step up its activities and capital investments in Venezuela following the US OFAC license, which removes long-standing sanction-related hurdles on its projects. For years, severe US sanctions on Venezuela's energy sector had restricted ONGC's ability to operate freely, expand output, and collect over $500 million (over ₹4,100 crore) in pending dividends from its joint-venture oil fields managed alongside Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA. With regulatory risks cleared, ONGC now has full flexibility to boost extraction in a nation that sits on the world's largest proven crude oil reserves-totaling over 303 billion barrels.