HDY.L Share News (HDY)

India-focused Hardy Oil and Gas tumbled into the red last year and has said chief executive and co-founder Sastry Karra will step down at the end of the month.The oil company lost $7.9m before tax in 2009 compared with a profit of $12.4m a year earlier when it benefited from a one-off gain of $13m.Falling oil prices and an extended shut-in of its PY-3 field had gross revenue down 56% at $7.7m, causing a net loss of $6.5m versus net income of $7.5m in 2008. Mr Karra co-founded the company in 1997 and was one of the brains behind the group's expansion ahead of its stock market float in London.He'll hand over to Yogeshwar Sharma, the current chief operating officer, on 31 March, but plans to stay on as a non-executive director."Our existing exploration portfolio in the Krishna Godavari Basin and other India basins offer significant organic growth potential for the company," said chairman Paul Mortimer. "The company is planning the drilling of a further five exploration wells by the end of the first half of 2011 and we look forward to executing this programme."