K.V. Kurmanath

Hyderabad , Sept. 28

AN expert team from Russia will be arriving in India next month to help Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in pursuing its coal gasification efforts.

Dr A.K. Balyan, Director (Human Resources Development) of ONGC, told Business Line here that Russia was the only country that demonstrated the commercial viability in coal gasification.

The locations to take up the exploration would be identified in a couple of days, he said. It was also working with the coal industry to identify areas. ONGC had made efforts several years ago in Gujarat, but could not take that forward.

Dr Balyan was here to address the inaugural of the three-day `Applied geochemistry in the evaluation and management of onshore and offshore geo-resources' seminar organised by the Indian Society of Applied Geochemists.

He said the focus of ONGC would be more on offshore finds.

With regard to applied geochemistry, Dr Balyan said the advances made in this field had helped the corporation in reducing the risk of exploration.

"We can reduce costs and enhance profits by avoiding the wrong wells and finding the right ones. This is a very helpful tool," he said.

He cited how the corporation revisited Krishna basin after 20 years and could identify the gas reserves.

On efforts to improve the quality of human resources, Dr Balyan said the company had firmed up a plan to convert its human resources into "business leaders."

ONGC took the help of Indian Institute of Management, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and Indian School of Business to give the required orientation.

"We made it a point that 50 per cent of the faculty that train our officers should be from abroad. This will help them understand how successful companies worked and how they were managed."

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