India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp has sought a waiver from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control to lift crude oil from Venezuela, an industry source said on Thursday.

ONGC is optimistic of winning an approval, the source said, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

ONGC has been looking to recover $500 million in dividends pending since 2014 for its stake in Venezuelan projects and has also sought for oil instead of the money.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Savio D’Souza)