Modi and Venezuela’s Rodríguez push for deeper energy ties amid Caracas’ U.S.-backed oil recovery

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez on Thursday, focusing on energy cooperation at a time when India has sharply increased its imports of Venezuelan crude under a new U.S.-backed deal that emerged after the impeachment of Nicolas Maduro earlier this year.

Rodríguez, who is on a working visit to India from June 3 to 6, was accompanied by a large ministerial delegation including the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Science and Transport of Venezuela. Apart from meeting Modi, she also spoke to Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and was scheduled to meet Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

The visit was not first revealed by New Delhi or Caracas, but by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on May 21, which revealed Rodríguez’s planned trip while showcasing U.S. energy exports to India, showcasing Venezuelan crude and U.S. energy supplies as part of the same conversation about India’s future energy needs.

Rodriguez assumed the interim presidency after former President Nicolas Maduro was deposed in a U.S. military operation on January 3. Since then, the Trump administration has issued temporary sanctions relief allowing U.S. companies to do business in Venezuela’s oil, mining and financial sectors. Venezuela’s oil revenues flow into US Treasury accountswith disbursements in Caracas subject to Department of State approval.

MEA Secretary (East) Rudrendra Tandon told reporters after the talks that Venezuela had already become India’s third largest crude supplier in terms of spot purchases this month. He said the two sides discussed the participation of Indian companies in upstream and downstream activities of Venezuela’s oil sector.

“The Venezuelan energy sector is undergoing a fundamental transformation. They see India as a stable demand for many years to come. So there is a perfect complementarity between India and Venezuela to work in the energy sector, both upstream and downstream,” he said. No agreement was signed during this visit.

India’s increased purchases of Venezuelan crude this year are largely due to the disruption to supplies in West Asia caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz for much of the past three months, forcing Indian refiners to seek alternative sources.

Venezuela’s oil exports reached 1.25 million barrels per day in May, their third consecutive monthly increase. according to Reutersbased on tanker movements and records from Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas company. India received 427,000 barrels per day, making it the second largest destination for Venezuelan crude after the United States. Reliance Industries has become one of the three largest buyers of Venezuelan crude in recent months, purchasing cargoes directly from PDVSA and from traders Chevron, Vitol and Trafigura, according to the same data.

Asked about payment terms for Indian oil purchases from Venezuela, and specifically whether the money would be paid to the U.S. Treasury or the Venezuelan government, Tandon said companies operating in Venezuela would have to consider “existing payment terms,” ​​without elaborating.

Tandon said the two leaders had a “very frank conversation” about the political transition in Venezuela after the U.S. military operation in January, but declined to go into details. “We all know there has been a transition in Venezuela, but we are working with a friendly government, which wants a partnership with India,” he said.

The special dividend of more than $500 million owed to ONGC Videsh on its Venezuelan investments has been reported several times, Tandon said. “It’s an issue that’s on the table and they’re very sensitive to it,” he said. Amounts owed to Indian pharmaceutical companies under the sanctions period, estimated at between $700 million and $800 million, were also noted, he added.

Beyond energy, Tandon said the focus was on identifying ways for Indian business firms to enter the Venezuelan market in areas such as mining – gold, diamonds and critical minerals – as well as livestock, transportation, automotive and pharmaceuticals. He said the two sides discussed cooperation in assessing Venezuela’s mineral reserves.

Pharmaceuticals were discussed in great detail, Tandon said, particularly the provision of high-quality, low-cost generic medicines to Venezuela’s public health services. He said the Venezuelan delegation had considered this as a priority area and Modi had asked one of the visiting ministers to be briefed about India’s Janaushadhi project.

This is Rodriguez’s sixth visit to India, according to the MEAwhich recalls her previous trips as Foreign Minister of Venezuela in 2015 and as Vice President in 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025.

She is known as a follower of the Indian god Sathya Sai Baba and visited the Prasanthi Nilayam ashram in Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh in 2023 and 2024, according to the Sri Sathya Sai organization. The MEA declined to comment on the private part of its program, although officials confirmed it would visit several industrial and refining facilities in other Indian cities.

This article was posted online on June 4, 2026, at 7:54 p.m.

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