The new head of Japan National Oil Corp. pledged Friday his utmost efforts to reconstruct the quasi-governmental oil exploration firm, which is sitting on some 1.4 trillion yen in possible losses.

"I will squarely face the problem and carry out bold reform without leaving any room for restrictions," Yoshiro Kamata said at his inaugural news conference.

In doing so, it is most important is to ensure transparency of information, he said. "This is very important given the risky nature of money involved (in oil exploration projects)," he added.