Twenty-one apply for ONGC dir. exp. role
No fewer than 21 candidates have applied for the ONGC director exploration position.
Despite the fact an announcement of the interview date is still awaited. Applications were received until the October 16 (2024) cut-off date, and interviews are expected soon to replace Sushma Rawat, who retires on June 30 (2025).
ONGC officers, plus some from OVL, Oil India, Vedanta and even Oman-based OQEP, have applied. Biswanath Ghosh, director of exploration at Vedanta-controlled Cairn Oil & Gas, is considered a strong private-sector applicant.
Other strong contenders include Balamurugan, in charge of pipelines at OQEP, and Prabhakar Thakur, former CEO of Prize Petroleum, currently on attachment at the DGH. Ajay Ratan, an ONGC nominee director at its affiliate helicopter company Pawan Hans, has also applied.
"Never before have people from private companies applied, but now there is a provision in the PESB advertisement which allows this," says a source. Applicants can be from a private sector company where the annual turnover is Rs10,000cr ($1.1bn) or more.
"Preference would be given to candidates from listed Companies," says the PESB advertisement issued on September 18 (2024). Dharam Singh Manral, chief general manager at Oil India’s exploration and development directorate, and Oil India's chief general manager of geophysics, Anup Kumar, have applied too.
Kumar was also a candidate for the Oil India director exploration and development role, which eventually went to Saloma Yomdo, who took charge in July 2024. "Sushma Rawat’s retirement will create a vacuum and with the chairman’s tenure slated to end on December 7 (2025) there is a feeling that the director exploration will have an expanded role," says an ONGC insider, explaining why so many want this job.
Singh’s preferred choice for director exploration is said to be reservoir specialist Om Prakash Sinha, executive director and head of the Institute of Reservoir Studies in Ahmedabad. Many other contenders from ONGC are in the running.
Anupam Baveja, chief general manager and head of exploration and development at OVL, can't be overlooked. Nor can Sanjay Parulkar, a low-profile GM and chief advisor for exploration and development at OVL.
Ashwani Kumar Walia, group general manager and now asset manager of the AAFB Exploratory Asset based in Silchar, has also applied. Another GGM who has applied is Assam and Assam Arakan Basin manager Tarun Kumar Mathuria.