Dr Ranjit Rath has taken over as new Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of Oil India Limited (OIL), a Navratna PSU under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoPNG), with effect from August 1. He was recommended for the post by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) panel on March 9. Previously, he was serving as CMD of Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL), a Miniratna PSU under the Ministry of Mines.

Dr Rath is an alumnus of IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur and Utkal University. Earlier in his career, he has served as the General Manager of Engineers India Limited, New Delhi and was also posted with Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd., New Delhi, an SPV under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. He has a strong portfolio of multifarious roles spanning from strategy formulation, business development, upstream asset management and application of geosciences & exploration geology in several important projects including the creation of Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs) a ‘first of its kind initiative in India entailing underground rock caverns for strategic storage of crude oil – An intervention towards energy security.

Dr Rath is a recipient of the prestigious ‘National Geosciences Award 2016’from the President of India. He has co-authored an important book on ‘Underground Storage Technologies’ and has published several technical papers and participated in conferences in India and overseas.