State-run oil and gas exploration and production company Oil India has so far received dividends amounting to $942 million from its Russian assets representing over 91% of its original investment in Vankorneft and Taas Yuryakh and expects full recovery in the coming year, the company’s chairman and managing director (CMD) Ranjit Rath said on Thursday.
Presently, about $330 million worth of OIL’s dividends are stuck in its bank accounts in Russia. The company had made an investment of about $1 billion in these two projects.
Rath noted that so far there has been no impact of the US tariffs on its Russian assets and drilling from these is set to begin in the next one year.
Oil’s India’s stakes in different companies
Oil India, ONGC Videsh and Bharat Petro Resources Limited acquired 23.9% stake in JSC Vankorneft and 29.9% stake in LLC Taas-Yuryakh from Rosneft Oil Company, the national oil company in Russia. Rosneft operates Vankor and Tass-Yuryakh fields and are its wholly owned subsidiaries.
The company also has presence in overseas producing and development assets across Mozambique, and Venezuela through joint ventures.
The company’s overseas assets cumulatively produced 2.097 MMTOE of oil and gas during FY 2024-25 primarily from Russia.
OIL also expects the Mozambique LNG project to restart in the second half of 2025 owing to improved security conditions.
In Mozambique, the company has invested in the world-scale LNG project, which will establish a 13.12 MMTPA low-carbon, integrated two train LNG facility. “With improved security conditions, the project is expected to restart in the second half of 2025 and is well-positioned to meet the growing demand of the Indian gas market,” Rath said.
The project has been under force majeure since April 2021 following attacks by Islamic State terrorists in Northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province.
Oil India, ONGC Videsh, and Bharat PetroResources together hold 30% in the project, with Thailand’s PTTEP owning the remainder.
TotalEnergies is the project operator with a 26.5% stake, followed by Mitsui & Co with 20%, while Mozambique’s state-owned ENH has a 15% stake in the project.
Oil India’s plans for the future
Looking ahead, Oil India is preparing to implement multilateral drilling in the Barekuri field in Assam in the next 2 months to effectively address land scarcity challenges.
The company is targeting Rs 1 lakh crore annual revenue and a cumulative capex of Rs 1.3 trillion by 2030 with plans to spend Rs 17,000-18,000 crore in the current fiscal. OIL also aims to produce 10 million metric tonnes of oil equivalent oil and gas by 2030. It has also set a target of Rs 10,000 crore consolidated profit after tax by 2027.
In the current financial year 2025-26, the company is targeting 4 million tonnes of oil production and 5 billion cubic meter of gas output. In FY25, oil production stood at 3.5 million tonnes. It also plans to drill over 80 wells in FY26 and expand its offshore exploration including deep water and ultra deep water areas.