Interviews For Top Slots At Oil Psus From Dec 7-8

The Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) has invited all the aspiring candidates for interviews for top posts at public sector oil companies Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL).

The interviews are to be held from December 7 to 8. The prime slots at the three corporations have been thrown open with their chiefs expected to retire early next year.

According to oil industry sources, the petroleum sector has attracted attention from several candidates as the sector is poised for action once it is deregulated. The government is doing away with the Administered Pricing Mechanism for petroleum products from April 1, 2002.

Industry sources point out that the board will be selective as the chiefs will have to "stand up to the challenges ahead from the private and multinationals". The appointments for HPCL and BPCL will come at a critical juncture as these companies are slated for divestment early next year.

M A Pathan, chairman and managing director of IOC is expected to retire on March 31, 2002, followed by H L Zutshi, chairman and managing director of HPCL sometime in May 2002 and U Sundararajan, chairman and managing director of BPCL, on June 30, 2002.

Some of the aspiring candidates are P Sugavanam director (finance), M S Ramachandran, director (planning) and Arjun K Arora, director (refineries) of IOC; S N Mathur, chairman and managing director of IBP; S D Gupta director (finance) HPCL; B Lala director (refinery), S Behuria, director (marketing) and Ashok Sinha director (finance) from BPCL.