Oil and gas exploration and production company Hardy Oil and Gas plc, which has most of its assets in India, today announced that the appointment of Mr Alasdair Locke as the Chairman of the company.

Mr Locke will replace Mr Paul Mortimer, who will continue as a Non-Executive Director of the company. Alongside, Mr Yogeshwar Sharma, the current CEO “has expressed his intention to step aside,” a press release from Hardy Oil said. Mr Sharma will remain on the Board as a Non Executive Director, the release says.

Hardy Oil's operations have run into rough weather. It's only producing asset, the PY-3 field, has been lying shut since August 2011, for want of approvals for a field re-development plan. It has relinquished a block in Assam.

Hardy Oil has 10 per cent stake in two Reliance-operated fields, D3 and D9, in the Krishna Godavari basin. ‘The commerciality report' for D3 has been pending with the government for months, while in D9, the company is in the process of analysing how successful it is there.

In another block in the Cauvery basin, where Hardy had discovered gas in January 2007, the concession period ended in March that year and the company has appealed to a Tribunal to “extend the period to January 2012 in accordance with the provisions of the production sharing contract.” ( >mramesh@thehindu.co.in )

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