ONGC, Indian Oil may get two chief executives

The country' largest oil producer Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and IndianOil Corp may get two chief executives each to manage their mammoth operations.

While ONGC currently has a chairman and managing director as the head, IOC has a chairman at the helm. The ministry of petroleum and natural gas is contemplating appointing a vice-chairman each in the two firms so as to ease work pressure on the current chief executives, government sources said.

The move has its genisis in the recommendations of the advisory committee on synergy in energy, which had suggested structural changes in the upstream companies.

It had recommended that the managing director of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of ONGC, also hold charge as vice-chairman of ONGC board, and ONGC have another chief executive for domestic operations to be designated as vice-chairman and managing director. A similar arrangement had been recommended for IOC.

Petroleum secretary S C Tripathi, in his comments on the recommendations, said that "since ONGC and IOC are extremely large entities with operations all over the country and abroad, we may accept the recommendation of having two chief executives both in ONGC and IOC, and for designating OVL managing director as vice-chairman."

Currently, OVL managing director R S Butola looks after the company's overseas operations and reports to OVL chairman and ONGC chairman and managing director Subir Raha.