8 bn rubles of Indian oil firms stuck in Russia

As much as 8 billion rubles (about Rs 1,000 crore) of dividend income belonging to Indian oil firms is stuck in Russia after the Putin administration clamped down on dollar repatriation, officials said on Friday.

Indian state oil firms have invested USD 5.46 billion in buying stakes in four different assets in Russia. These include a 49.9 per cent stake in Vankorneft oil and gas field and another 29.9 per cent in TAAS-Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha fields. They get dividends on profits made by the operating consortium from selling oil and gas produced from the fields.

‘We had been regularly getting our dividend income from the projects but since the war in Ukraine led to volatility in foreign exchange rates, the Russian government has put restrictions on repatriation of dollars from that country,’ said Harish Madhav, Director (Finance), Oil India Ltd, which is one of the partners in the fields.

The dividend from TAAS was paid on a quarterly basis while Vankorneft’s earnings were paid half-yearly.

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