ONGC Videsh Managing Director Ranbir Singh Butola was today selected to head Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest refining and fuel marketing firm.
Government headhunters Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) interviewed six candidates and named Butola as its No 1 choice to be chairman of IOC, official sources said.
PESB had yesterday selected R K Singh for the post of Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Petroleum Corp.
Butola, 56, the man responsible for giving India a standing in the global oil scene with acquisitions such as Russia-focused Imperial Energy, was the senior most in the race and a natural choice to head IOC.
Born on May 5, 1954, Butola joined ONGC in February 1991 as Deputy General Manager (F&A) and was appointed as Director (Finance) of ONGC Videsh Ltd on November 15, 2002. He succeeded Atul Chandra as the Managing Director of the company on May 13, 2004.
He holds a Master's in Business Management with specialisation in Finance, and is a certified member of the Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB).
Prior to his joining ONGC, Butola worked in a nationalised bank and also for the Government of India on deputation.
Sources said of all the 14 candidates shortlisted for the top job at IOC only six, including Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd Managing Director U K Basu, Instrumentation Ltd Chairman and Managing Director Ramanand and A S Lamba, Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor in the Ministry of Agriculture appeared for personal interview today.
The post of IOC chairman fell vacant after the government declined an extension of service to Sarthak Behuria till his superannuation age of 60 in 2012.
Behuria completed his five-year term in February-end and was eligible for extension till early 2012 but the government refused him the option.
Prominent among those who did not turn up for interview before PESB included Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd Director (Refineries) R K Singh, who was yesterday named by PESB as the preferred choise to head the nation's second largest public sector oil firm, sources said.
Shipping Corp of India (SCI) Director (Finance), B K Mandal, who was PESB's second preference to head BPCL, too did not attend IOC Chairman interview. Pawan Hans Ltd Chairman and Managing Director R K Tyagi also did not turn up.
Oil India Ltd (OIL) Director (Finance) T K Ananth Kumar, who failed to make to the grade at the BPCL interviews yesterday, too did not turn up for interview for the top post in IOC .
Sources said the PESB recommendation will now be vetted by the Cabinet Committee on Appointments (ACC) before a formal order is issued.
None of the directors on the IOC board was eligible to even appear for interview as they did not have a minimum two years of service left, sources said.
Others who had applied for the job included oil regulator DGH head S K Srivastava, Hindustan Petroleum Corp Director (Finance) B Mukherjee
Sources said none of the existing directors of IOC has the required two years of service left to be eligible for the job. While Bansal is to retire on January 31, 2011, Director (R&D) Anand Kumar would demit office this month-end.
He will be followed by Director (HR) V C Aggarwal on August 31, Director (Finance) S V Narasimhan in April next year, Director (Refineries) B N Bankapur in August 2011, Director (Marketing) G C Daga in September next year and Director (Pipeline) K K Jha in January 2012.
Singh, 57, will be at the helms of affiars at the nation's second largest public sector refining and marketing company till September 2013.
The position of Chairman and Managing Director at BPCL fell vacant in August after Ashok Sinha resigned from the job.
S Radhakrishnan, Director (Marketing), BPCL is officiating as the Chairman and Managing Director the company.
Sources said Sinha had in May put in his papers apparently after it emerged that the government was not inclined to give him an extension of service after he completes his five-year tenure on August 18, 2010.
Sinha, 58, was eligible for an extension of tenure till he attained superannuation age of 60 years in February 2012.
Sources said the Petroleum Ministry was not inclined to give him an extension like it had previously done in case of Sarthak Behuria of Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Subir Raha of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and P Banerjee of GAIL.
No reason has been given for not considering Sinha for an extension.
Sinha is the fourth head of a Navratana oil PSU to be denied an extension. The oil ministry had in 2006 declined Subir Raha an extension as the Chairman and Managing Director of ONGC and a year later GAIL's Prashanto Banerjee got a similar treatment.
In February this year, Behuria was denied an extension as the chairman of IOC.
