New Delhi: State-owned ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) has discovered oil and gas in its exploration blocks in Colombia and Brazil respectively.

“ONGC Videsh has recorded discoveries of oil in its onshore exploration block CPO-5, Colombia in the Llanos basin and major gas in the deep offshore exploration block BM-SEAL-4, Brazil in the Sergipe Alagoas Basin," OVL said in a statement on Wednesday.

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of ONGC, has invested $28 billion in 41 projects across 20 countries and has probable reserves of 711.36 million tonnes of oil equivalent.

“ONGC Videsh has a significant presence in oil & gas sector of Brazil and Colombia. It holds stakes in seven exploratory blocks. In addition, ONGC Videsh is the joint owner of the oil producing company Mansarovar Energy Colombia Ltd (MECL) along with its partners Sinopec of China. In Brazil, ONGC Videsh holds 27% PI in the offshore BC-10 block," the statement said.

Till now, Indian energy firms have invested around $38 billion to buy equity energy stakes in 28 countries, including Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria and Russia.

This comes in the backdrop of Russia and Saudi Arabia extending the crude oil supply cut. The extension of supply cuts will have wide-ranging impact on energy markets, given that Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries or Opec accounts for around 40% of global production.

New Delhi has been trying to buffer its consumers from fluctuations in global prices. The unfolding events in West Asia have raised the spectre of a spike in transportation of fuel prices in India, with traders worldwide speculating if oil will cross the $100-mark yet again. Any sudden increase in global prices will affect India’s oil import bill and its trade deficit. Every dollar increase in the price of oil raises India’s import bill by ₹10,700 crore on an annualised basis. India spent $111.9 billion on crude oil imports of 207.3 million tonnes in 2018-19.

US ambassador to India Kenneth Juster on Monday also cautioned India against a range of issues, including “managing the rise of China" and “securing energy supplies."

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