New Delhi: A top-notch position at disinvestment-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has finally been filled. According to an official order issued by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and accessed by PSU Watch, BPCL Director (Marketing) Arun Kumar Singh has been entrusted with additional charge of the post of Director (Refineries). The post of Director (Refineries) had been vacant since August 31 when R Ramachandran superannuated.
The order from the Petroleum Ministry, dated September 17, said, "I am directed to say that the Competent Authority has approved the proposal for entrustment of additional charge of the post of Director (Refineries), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited to Shri Arun Kumar Singh, Director (Marketing), BPCL for a period of three months from 01.09.2020 to 30.11.2020 or till further orders, whichever is earlier."
Singh is a Mechanical Engineer from National Institute of Technology, Patna and held a first-rank in the discipline. He has headed various positions in BPCL in retail, LPG, pipelines, supply chain optimisation, etc and has a vast experience of 33 years. He was appointed as Director (Marketing) of BPCL on October 1, 2018. In addition, he has also held positions of President (Africa and Australasia) in Bharat PetroResources Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of BPCL. He is also a Director on the board of Bharat Gas Resources Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of BPCL.
The news comes as the government has extended the deadline for submission of bids for the strategic disinvestment of BPCL to September 30 in the wake of requests from interested bidders and the "prevailing situation arising out of COVID-19." The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved the sale of BPCL in November last year. The number of shares that the government is looking to sell off stands at 1,14,91,83,592, DIPAM had said in a clarification to queries raised by bidders. The disinvestment of Numaligarh Refinery Ltd is set to be completed before the closing of BPCL privatisation process.
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