Increasing production, overseas acquisitions immediate focus areas: DK Saraff, Chairman-designate, ONGC

DK Saraff, the freshly anointed chairman of ONGC told ET in his first media interview that increasing production, monetising existing assets and stepping up overseas acquisitions of oil and gas acreages will be his immediate focus areas in the near-term. Previously the head of ONGC Videsh he has helmed a slew of new and expensive acquisitions of oil and gas acreages in Africa, South America and Azerbaijan. Edited excerpts:

ET: Critics in the industry often accuse successive ONGC chairmans of being unable to increase production which our energy deficit country critically requires, what is your near-term plan to counter this?

DK Saraff: Increasing production is of extreme importance and my immediate focus area, you will see that it will increase soon, as i will focus on certain domestic assets.

ET: Also most industry experts say that ONGC is unable to monetise oil and gas assets as quickly as private operators? What is your plan to expedite that?

DK Saraff: I will get cracking on that immediately, this too is of extreme concern to me and i plan to tackle it on war footing.

ET: What about new discoveries?

DK Saraff: We have notified a lot of new discoveries in the last few quarters and I plan to make them financially viable very soon.

ET: As the head of ONGC Videsh you have helmed a lot of new and expensive new acquisitions of oil and gas acreages in Africa, South America and Azerbaijan, do u plan to keep up this momentum?

DK Saraff: Yes, absolutely new acquisitions of prospective oil and gas acreages across the world is another clear priority and we plan to keep that up.