ONGC oil output to rise 15 pc to 28 mt by 2013: Vasudeva

In his first media interaction after taking over the new job,Vasudeva,57,rued that ONGC has lost the position of the world’s number one E&P company in Platts’ global rankings and the nation’s most valuable company because of a drop in production.

“My first focus will be the core activity of exploration. We will have no stone unturned in revisiting the exploration strategy,” he said. ONGC plans to invest Rs 26,000 crore in developing 34 small and marginal fields,which will yield some 5 million tonnes of crude oil.

“After accounting for the natural decline that has set in ageing and old fields,we will be able to touch 28 million tonnes (per annum) by 2013-14,” he said.

The company currently produces about 24.5 million tonnes of oil per annum. On natural gas,he was more optimistic,as he believed fields in the Daman formation off the West Coast can alone yield 15 mmscmd. Also,gas discoveries in ONGC’s KG-D5 block,which sits next to Reliance Industries’ prolific KG-D6 gas fields in the Krishna-Godavari basin,off the East Coast,can produce 25-30 mmscmd. Vasudeva,who has risen from the ranks since joining ONGC in 1976,said the company will prepare a long-term perspective plan,say 15-20 years,that will lay out the roadmap for the company not just in the hydrocarbon sector,but also in alternate energies and nuclear power.

Breaking from convention,he showered generous praises at his illustrious predecessors,calling the late Subir Raha a transformational leader who between 2001 and 2006 steered the company to what it is today,and described R S Sharma as someone who smoothened ruffled feathers after 2006. The new boss said ONGC will try to prepone the target for 20 million tonnes of oil and oil-equivalent gas production abroad from 2020. Its overseas subsidiary,ONGC Videsh Ltd,already produces 9.5 million tonnes of oil and oil-equivalent gas from 16 properties abroad. But the biggest concern Vasudeva faces is manpower attrition. Out of the company’s workforce of 33,000 officers and workers,7,000 are retiring in the next five years. ONGC will hire 1,000 officials every year to bridge the shortfall.

The average age of employees at ONGC is 49 years and the concern for Vasudeva is that it takes 4-5 years to turn a fresher into an oilman after proper training. Even though the 0.25 per cent attrition experienced by the company is lower than the average of 20-30 per cent in the manufacturing industry and 50 per cent in the IT sector,the concern was that the company was losing experienced men,he said.

He said the fundamentals of the company are strong and ONGC is getting generous support from the nodal Oil Ministry.

“Technology is not an issue today. Technology is available at the doorstep,it not at all a constraint,” he said.

A gold-medalist Chemical Engineer and a management graduate,Vasudeva will have to shoulder the additional charge of Director (Offshore) and Director (Finance) of the company. He was Director (Offshore) before being elevated as Chairman,while the post of Director (Finance) fell vacant last month when Dinesh K Sarraf was moved as Managing Director of ONGC Videsh Ltd.

The two positions would be held by him till such time that the government appoints full-time directors. Born on February 26,1954,Vasudeva will head the nation’s highest profit-making firm till his retirement on February 28,2014.

ONGC has been headless since January end,when R S Sharma retired on attaining superannuation at the age of 60 years. Government headhunter Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) had on October 19 last year selected Vasudeva,the head of the offshore oil and gas fields of ONGC,to replace Sharma on January 31.

However,his appointment was delayed due to complaints,some of them on forged letterheads of Members of Parliament (MPs),against Vasudeva. His name was finally cleared after the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) gave him a clean-chit on all the complaints. Vasudeva,57,was selected by the PESB after interviewing eight candidates. Pawan Hans Ltd Chairman and Managing Director R K Tyagi was named the number two choice by PESB to head ONGC.