Petronet LNG Names GAIL's Sanjay Kumar as MD and CEO, to Take Charge in May 2027
Petronet LNG Ltd has appointed Sanjay Kumar, currently Director (Marketing) at GAIL (India), as its next Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, setting up a leadership transition at India's largest gas importer.
According to a regulatory filing, Petronet's board cleared the top-level appointment during a brief 15-minute meeting on October 2. Kumar will take the helm with effect from May 13, 2027, when the position falls vacant at the end of incumbent A.K. Singh's extended tenure.
A 35-year gas industry veteran
Kumar, 59, will serve a five-year term. A mechanical engineer from IIT Kharagpur with an MBA, he brings more than 35 years of experience across the natural gas and LNG value chain. He joined GAIL in 1988 and has since handled gas marketing, LNG sourcing, trading, shipping, business development, transmission and pipeline project management.
He assumed charge as Director (Marketing) at GAIL on June 15, 2023, after a stint as Managing Director of Indraprastha Gas from April 2022. In 2011, he was tasked with setting up GAIL Global (Singapore) Pte., the first overseas LNG trading subsidiary established by an Indian oil and gas public sector company, spending five years building its global market presence.
India's largest gas importer
Petronet LNG operates India's largest liquefied natural gas import terminal at Dahej in Gujarat, alongside a terminal at Kochi in Kerala. The company is majority owned by state-owned oil firms — Indian Oil Corporation, GAIL, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Bharat Petroleum each hold a 12.5 per cent stake. Registered as a private limited company, Petronet is not under the purview of the CAG or CVC and falls outside the RTI Act, with its board executives retiring at 65.
The appointment comes as India seeks to raise the share of natural gas in its energy mix and expand LNG import and regasification infrastructure. Petronet's board also recently approved a 50:50 joint venture with Gruner Renewable Energy to build 10 compressed bio-gas plants, each with an 18-tonne-per-day capacity, at an estimated investment of Rs 1,200 crore.
Sources: ETEnergyWorld · CNBC-TV18 · ETV Bharat (PTI)
Petronet LNG Ltd has appointed Sanjay Kumar, currently Director (Marketing) at GAIL (India), as its next Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, setting up a leadership transition at India's largest gas importer.
According to a regulatory filing, Petronet's board cleared the top-level appointment during a brief 15-minute meeting on October 2. Kumar will take the helm with effect from May 13, 2027, when the position falls vacant at the end of incumbent A.K. Singh's extended tenure.
A 35-year gas industry veteran
Kumar, 59, will serve a five-year term. A mechanical engineer from IIT Kharagpur with an MBA, he brings more than 35 years of experience across the natural gas and LNG value chain. He joined GAIL in 1988 and has since handled gas marketing, LNG sourcing, trading, shipping, business development, transmission and pipeline project management.
He assumed charge as Director (Marketing) at GAIL on June 15, 2023, after a stint as Managing Director of Indraprastha Gas from April 2022. In 2011, he was tasked with setting up GAIL Global (Singapore) Pte., the first overseas LNG trading subsidiary established by an Indian oil and gas public sector company, spending five years building its global market presence.
India's largest gas importer
Petronet LNG operates India's largest liquefied natural gas import terminal at Dahej in Gujarat, alongside a terminal at Kochi in Kerala. The company is majority owned by state-owned oil firms — Indian Oil Corporation, GAIL, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Bharat Petroleum each hold a 12.5 per cent stake. Registered as a private limited company, Petronet is not under the purview of the CAG or CVC and falls outside the RTI Act, with its board executives retiring at 65.
The appointment comes as India seeks to raise the share of natural gas in its energy mix and expand LNG import and regasification infrastructure. Petronet's board also recently approved a 50:50 joint venture with Gruner Renewable Energy to build 10 compressed bio-gas plants, each with an 18-tonne-per-day capacity, at an estimated investment of Rs 1,200 crore.
Sources: ETEnergyWorld · CNBC-TV18 · ETV Bharat (PTI)
