Adverse CBI report,so oil regulator quits

Based on the CBI’s report which recommended registration of cases,the CVC yesterday rejected the Vigilance clearance for Sibal’s second term as the head of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.

Ruffled by the CVC’s disapproval,the Petroleum Ministry today rushed an apology to the Department of Personnel & Training seeking withdrawal of its earlier proposal to grant an ad-hoc extension to Sibal,sources said.

Sibal,who heads the deemed regulatory body for the upstream exploration sector,sent his resignation to Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey on Monday,sources said. He has not been attending office since that day.

Sources said the CBI has found evidence of Sibal’s alleged collusion with exploration firms in four of the five cases put before the investigative agency,the prominent ones being Comet Energy Solutions,Quest Petroleum and GX Technologies.

It found that the DGH rented an office in Noida which was owned by Comet Energy Solutions India (P) Ltd,a firm which bought a three-bedroom apartment in Mumbai for providing accommodation to Sibal’s daughter from April 2008 to August this year. It found that Comet Energy was owned by Manjula Sethi,whose husband Naresh Sethi owns almost all shares in Energy World Development Ltd of Hong Kong which has links with GX Technologies,a firm that was awarded a seismic survey contract by DGH in 2006.

Naresh Sethi also represented Weatherford Services and was a “facilitator” for Alcock McPhar Geotech India (P) Ltd,both global firms in the exploration service business.

Papers showed that Sibal’s official residence at Noida,which he vacated last weekend,is owned by J S Anand whose wife Mohinder Kaur Anand is a director in Quest Petroleum,a firm that was awarded an exploration block in November 2008 in a consortium.

Quest had no previous experience and was formed a couple of months before the bidding. The CBI investigation also substantiated CVC papers that Sibal’s daughters used the hospitality of Reliance Industries Ltd whose revised capital expenditure was approved in December 2006.

Petroleum Minister Murli Deora,who was earlier in favour of Sibal’s extension,today approved giving additional charge of the DGH to Oil India Ltd’s Director (Operations) S K Srivastava who was till recently Deputy Director General there. He will hold the charge for six months or until a new director is found,whichever is earlier,says the proposal that would be sent to DoPT.

Last Friday,Sibal sought premature retirement from his parent organization Oil India Ltd effective from that day,citing “personal unavoidable circumstances.” His lien from OIL to DGH ends on October 31,the last day of his current contract as DGH.

He turns 60 in January 2012 and was eligible for a little above two years of a second term had the CVC given vigilance clearance.