New Delhi: A selection panel appointed by the Central goverment has selected Alok Kumar Gupta as the MD and CEO of ONGC Videsh on Thursday, sources in the know of the matter said. Gupta is currently serving as Director (Operations) at ONGC Videsh and has been selected for the post from a list of more than 12 candidates who were interviewed on Thursday, the source added. The panel's recommendation will now go to the ACC (Appointments Cabinet Committee) for a nod after Gupta gets a clearance from CVC and CBI. Gupta will have a tenure until June 2022, when he attains superannuation.
The post of MD and CEO of ONGC Videsh had been vacant since former MD NK Verma superannuated on January 31, 2019. Records on ONGC Videsh's website showed that the company has not made any acquisition since January 31 until now. On February 12, 2019, the government had said that the search-selection committee would be headed by PESB chairman KD Tripathi, and will have the then Petroleum Secretary MM Kutty, ONGC Chairman Shashi Shanker and ex-IOC Chairman MA Pathan as members.
ONGC Videsh Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary and overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), the flagship national oil company (NOC) of India. The primary business of ONGC Videsh is to explore and produce oil and gas outside India. ONGC Videsh owns participating interests in 37 oil and gas assets in 17 countries and produced about 30.3 percent of oil and 23.7 percent of oil and natural gas of India's domestic production in 2019-20. In terms of reserves and production, ONGC Videsh is the second largest petroleum company of India, next only to its parent ONGC.
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