This is one of the consequences of Western sanctions against Moscow. Indian hydrocarbon companies that have invested in Russia are failing to be remunerated. Hundreds of millions of euros would thus be blocked for lack of being able to find an alternative to the Swift exchange system, blocked by the sanctions.
With our correspondent in Bangalore, Como Bastin
Oil India, Indian Oil Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp… So many Indian public hydrocarbon companies that cannot receive a return on their investments in Russia since the war in Ukraine and the sanctions. Whether payments for oil purchases to Russia are not subject to sanctions, payments related to the country’s oil and gas assets are. However, these three companies entered the capital of the Russian company Vankorneft and the Siberian oil field Taas-Yuryakh in 2016.
On Saturday April 29, a source at the Indian oil ministry mentioned the sum of 360 million euros in blocked dividends. According to Bloomberg, 1.8 billion euros would be withheld in total in Russia, particularly in the arms sectors.
For months, Moscow and New Delhi have been discussing means of payment to circumvent the sanctions without achieving great progress. On the question of dividends, the two countries are considering payments via the currency of a third country. Neither these setbacks nor Western sanctions have prevented the explosion of trade between India and Russia. They exceeded 32 billion euros last year, two and a half times more than in 2021.
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