New Delhi- As several countries around the world reacted strongly to the US military strikes on Venezuela on Saturday, industry analysts said India’s economic exposure to the South American nation remains limited and that New Delhi is not dependent on Venezuela for its crude oil requirements.
According to data available on the website of the Indian Embassy in Caracas, bilateral trade between India and Venezuela stood at $1.175 billion during the 2023–24 financial year.
India’s key exports to Venezuela include mineral fuels and oils and their distillation products, bituminous substances, pharmaceutical products, cotton, nuclear reactors and boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, electrical machinery and equipment, sound and television recording and reproduction equipment, apparel and clothing accessories, and miscellaneous chemical products.
Industry experts noted that overall trade volumes between the two countries are relatively small and that India does not rely on Venezuela for crude oil imports.
On the import side, India sources mineral fuels and oils and their distillation products, bituminous substances, mineral waxes, iron and steel, aluminium, edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers, copper and copper articles, lead and lead products, zinc and zinc articles, as well as wood and wood products from Venezuela, according to embassy data.
ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) has an existing joint venture with Corporacion Venezolana del Petroleo (CVP), a subsidiary of state-owned oil company PdVSA, under the name “Petrolera Indovenezolana SA”. The venture focuses on oil exploration and production in the San Cristobal field, with OVL holding a 40 per cent stake and PdVSA owning the remaining 60 per cent. OVL’s investment in the project is estimated at around $200 million.
In addition, an international consortium led by OVL, along with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Oil India Limited (OIL), Spain’s Repsol and Malaysia’s Petronas, won an international bid in April 2008 to develop a large integrated oil project in the Carabobo block of Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt.
Meanwhile, political uncertainty in Venezuela deepened following the US strikes. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said on Saturday that the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were unknown after attacks on Caracas, Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira in the early hours of the day.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump claimed that the Venezuelan President and his wife had been “captured” and “flown out” of the country.
With inputs from IANS