Oil ministry reassigns roles of joint secretaries

NEW DELHI: The oil ministry on Wednesday re-realigned portfolios of joint secretaries after oil minister Veerappa Moily prevailed on petroleum secretary Vivek Rae for an “equitable” distribution of works, senior oil ministry officials said.

“Rae relented after Moily convinced him that several exploration works suffered excessive delays because the head of the exploration division was burdened with other non-core matters,” an official with direct knowledge of the matter said. Last week, Moily had asked Rae to trim certain significant portfolios of joint secretary-exploration, but the secretary had returned the file to the minister saying that the new person lacked “domain expertise”.

Joint secretary (exploration) Aramane Giridhar’s portfolios of foreign acquisitions, control over ONGC’s overseas arm, gas pricing and matters related to unconventional hydrocarbons such as shale gas and coal bed methane have been transferred to PK Singh, joint secretary (international cooperation & gas marketing), with immediate effects.

“Armane may continue to hold the charge of gas-pricing pending filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court,” the official said. Last month, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to the government and Reliance Industries on a public interest litigation filed by CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, seeking review of a recent cabinet decision to raise gas price and another additional billion penalty on RIL for shortfall in gas output from its D6 block. Dasgupta also alleged last week that Moily’s decision to transfer joint secretaries was motivated to benefit Reliance Industries.

The matters concerning energy conservation body of the oil ministry and renewable energy-related issues, such as bio-fuel and ethanol blending programme, have been transferred from joint secretary (marketing) Neeraj Mittal to joint secretary (refineries) RK Singh, the order said.