R.K. Singh: Former Bharat Petroleum Head

In 1974 R.K. Singh completed his B. Tech. in Mechanical Engineering with Honours from Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He then had a brief stint in Hindstan Lever and Hindalco after which he began his career at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPLC) in 1978.  Singh then started his journey up the corporate ladder holding a number of important positions in both the Marketing and Refinery division at BPCL.

Singh has played a crucial role in the implementation of the project for setting up a new 6 MMPT grass roots refinery at Bina through Bharat Oman Refineries Limited (BORL), a joint venture company of BPCL and Oman Oil Company. Singh also played a significant role in the entry of BPCL into the upstream business of exploration and production which is being done through Bharat PetroResources Limited (BPRL), a wholly owned subsidiary company of BPCL.  

Great talent gets recognized and for Singh it led to being appointed as Chairman & Managing Director of BPCL on December 9, 2010. Before he was appointed to the position, Singh was the Director (Refineries) of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited. He was promoted to this position on March 6, 2006 and was responsible for the operations of the refineries in Mumbai and Kochi and that of Numaligarh Refinery Limited, as subsidiary of BPCL. Aside from this he also directed the research and development, corporate planning and international trade functions.

BPCL is a state-controlled listed company in India. For it to be state controlled means it must be a very large company which it is. Thus Singh’s achievement in the company has had to some degree also impacted on the whole Indian oil industry as well.

BPCL was originally Burhmah Shell Group of Companies which was taken over by the Indian government on January 24, 1976.  It was renamed Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited on August 1, 1997. It was also the first refinery to process new found indigenous crude (Bombay High), in the country.

In October 1, 2013 S. Varadarajan took over as head of BPCL succeeding Singh.