Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy has reshuffled portfolios of senior bureaucrats in his ministry, giving the critical exploration portfolio to Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer Aramane Giridhar.

The Petroleum Ministry on February 6 issued an order for new work allocation of as many as 10 senior officers, including the recently joined Joint Secretary Aramane, sources said.

The focus of the change was exploration division of the ministry which had handled critical deals like the $8.48 billion Cairn-Vedanta and $7.2-billion RIL-BP deal as well as approvals for KG-D6 field development. The division will now have a new Joint Secretary and two new directors.

Aramane, IAS officer of 1988 batch, had recently joined the ministry and was given the charge of marketing.

However, this week he was moved to the high-profile exploration division, where a vacany has arisen on January 5 after DN Narasimha Raju returned to Karnataka after completing the five-year stint at the Centre.

CB Singh and Partha Sarthi Das, both Directors in the Exploration division of the ministry, have been moved out and given lesser important assignments - Das would handle distribution, while Singh will look after international cooperation.

Atul N Patne, a 1999 batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre, who had joined the Ministry in November last year, would handle Das's job while Rashmi Aggarwal, who was Director incharge of distribution, would replace Singh.

Vivek Kumar, Joint Secretary (International Cooperation), who had been given additional charge of marketing after Apurva Chandra was moved out of the ministry, has again been entrusted with the same responsibility.

Sources said Neeraj Mittal, who was Director (Supply and Pricing), has been assigned job of gas and vigilance, while PK Singh would handle his previous work.

Shri Prakash would handle administration and P Kalyanasundaram would look after corporate affairs. Anil Kumar V Patil has been tasked with public grievance and client charter.