Business

'Not Everyone's Gunning For Me'

But quite a few people are definitely doing that. Who wins is a secondary issue...

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'Not Everyone's Gunning For Me'
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Subir Raha, CMD, ONGC, fielded questions from Outlook's Arindam Mukherjee. Excerpts from the exclusive interview.

Why is everyone gunning for Subir Raha?
I don't think everyone's gunning for me. But quite a few people are definitely doing that. Who wins is a secondary issue. In the public sector, where so many companies have gone sick, has anyone been held accountable?

Why do you think government policies are hurting ONGC?
Gas prices are controlled, while oil prices were decontrolled in 2002. Under the old APM system, (administered price mechanism), prices were controlled but investments were also protected and costs were covered or reimbursed. In September 1997, the protection on gas was withdrawn and our contention is that if the government has removed it, then it should free the prices too. We should opt for either total control or total decontrol. What we have today is something in between which is not desirable.

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There's criticism that ONGC has diverted funds to non-core businesses like retail?
That is absolute falsehood. About 99 per cent of our capital investment is in exploration and it has increased from Rs 3,000 crore a year to Rs 10,000 crore in four years' time. Achieving such an increase is no joke.

How would you react to DGH's allegation that ONGC's disclosure about its recent find in Krishna Godavari basin was irregular and helped boost its scrip price?
The ONGC Board had decided in October 2002 to adopt US exploratory norms, which is accepted globally. In March 2004, when the government sold 10 per cent of its holdings in ONGC, these norms were being followed. Two years ago, we requested the ministry that the DGH should declare all new finds. Since then, we've been waiting for it to happen.

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Of late, there have been several accidents at ONGC's installations. Why?
We cannot draw any conclusions. We're drilling 50 wells at any given time and accidents are accidents. The fire at Bombay High was a freak situation, but the incident in Andhra Pradesh was a blowout which happens in exploration. AP has had four blowouts in 10 years. But look at it this way—earlier, it took us three months to control it, this time it took just six hours.

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