Ajay Bhargava is new Mehsana ONGC chief

Ajay Bhargava's priority as the new ONGC asset manager at Mehsana will be to increase production to meet stiff oil ministry targets.

Bhargava, 58, is head of drilling services at the Ahmedabad asset but on December 1 will replace Mehsana asset manager Vinay Pandya who retires on November 30 after more than three decades at ONGC. "My top priority as asset manager is to increase production," Bhargava tells this report.

Mehsana is ONGC's largest onland asset and produced 5530 t/d (39,500 b/d) in the first half of November. But the oil ministry wants it to raise production to 41,000 b/d by end-December.

Mechanical engineering graduate Bhargava has considerable experience. He joined ONGC from Assam in 1982.

From 2004 to 2013, he was in the directional drilling team for the Mumbai offshore before joining Ahmedabad as a location manager and moving up to drilling services head in 2017. A special farewell party was organised on November 14 for Pandya who is credited for his community development work: in the last five years, ONGC spent Rs48.9cr ($6.7m) on CSR at Mehsana.