Prime Minister Narendra Modi and acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez on Thursday held talks on forging a long-term energy partnership and cooperation in pharmaceuticals and vital minerals, even as the Indian side flagged the issue of returning oil profits to a state-run company from the South American country.
Rodriguez is on a four-day visit to India with a delegation of five ministers, her first trip to the country since she became interim head of the Venezuelan government after US forces arrested and kidnapped former President Nicolas Maduro during an operation in Caracas in January.
The two leaders did not make usual media statements after their talks at Hyderabad House, and Modi said in a social media post that they discussed expanding cooperation in the areas of energy, critical minerals, technology, agriculture and healthcare. “As an important partner in Latin America, our close cooperation with Venezuela holds great importance for the Global South,” he said.
Rodriguez is visiting New Delhi at a time when Venezuela has become the country’s third largest oil supplier after Russia and the United Arab Emirates. India, the third largest oil importer, has diversified its energy purchases to compensate for the disruption in supplies after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Discussions between Modi and Rodriguez focused on establishing a long-term energy partnership, Rudhirendra Tandon, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, said at a press conference. There is “full integration” between Venezuela, which has the largest proven reserves of crude oil in the world, and India, a growing energy consumer, to work together in exploration and refining.
According to Tandon, Rodriguez said Venezuela “views India as a preferred partner” because it will be a stable energy buyer for many years, and Modi said India wants to build an energy relationship covering upstream and downstream activities.
Tandon said the Indian government is “aggressively” seeking new sources of crude oil to ensure India’s energy security due to developments in West Asia and Venezuela “is a big part of our plan.”
While the Trump administration controls revenues from Venezuela’s energy sales through bank accounts managed by the US Treasury Department, Tandon said payments for energy purchases “will be done the way companies want.”
“On the issue of payments, Venezuela is in a transitional phase. There are arrangements in place,” he said, noting that Indian public and private sector companies, operating globally, will have to take into account existing payment methods for economic activities in Venezuela.
The Indian side also raised the issue of state-run ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), which shares equity in two oil exploration projects in Venezuela, for being unable to repatriate more than $500 million in profits from the South American country.
“This is a big part of the discussions we are having with Venezuela… It is the money of a public sector company, but it is an issue that is on the table, and they are very sensitive to this issue,” Tandon said.
The two sides discussed potential cooperation in the field of pharmaceuticals, especially the ability of Indian manufacturers to provide high-quality generic medicines at low cost, and focused on the mining sector, including critical minerals, gold and diamonds. He added: “There was a discussion about how to evaluate potential reserves [Venezuela has and] “This is a big part of the follow-up activities that we will be doing,” Tandon said.
Tandon acknowledged that the two leaders had a “very frank conversation” about Venezuela’s political transition but declined to go into details. “We all know that there is a transitional phase in Venezuela. But we are working with a friendly government that wants a partnership with India. We want to reciprocate,” he said.
In addition to visiting a pharmaceutical company in New Delhi and an automobile facility run by Tata, Rodriguez will visit Reliance Industries’ Jamnagar refinery in Gujarat, the world’s largest oil refining complex with a capacity of 1.24 million barrels per day. Reliance Industries is currently the main buyer of Venezuelan heavy crude.
Rodriguez is also expected to make a special visit to Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh to visit Sathya Sai Baba’s ashram.
