OVL pledges $17m for San Cristobal
ONGC Videsh has received $88m in outstanding dividend payments from the beleaguered government of Venezuela allowing it to begin a $17m water-injection programme to revive the struggling San Cristobal oilfield.
OVL on May 11 announced plans to drill 17 water injection wells and 36 additional producers plus compression facilities to process 15m cf/d from San Cristobal where production has dropped from 30,000 b/d in June 2008 when OVL was gifted 40% by then President Hugo Chavez to around 18,000 b/d today. "About $17m has been disbursed to the JV as a loan for implementation of the (water-injection based) remediation plan," confirmed OVL in its May release to mark an April 29 visit to San Cristobal by director operations PK Rao.
Near bankrupt and with daily food riots, Venezuela's decision to pay OVL is testament to the potential of San Cristobal. On November 11 last year (2016) state oil company PDVSA (60%) signed an agreement with OVL promising to repay the outstanding dividends.
OVL believes water-injection will raise production from 17,000 b/d to 30,000 b/d.
