Petronet CEO AK Singh Wins 15-Month Extension To Lead India's Largest Gas Importer

Akshay Kumar Singh has received a 15-month extension till May 2027 as the managing director and chief executive officer of the country's biggest gas importer, Petronet LNG Ltd, according to a regulatory filing.

Singh, 64, who took over as Petronet CEO on February 1, 2020, for an initial five-year term, will now superannuate on May 12, 2027.

While the superannuation age in public sector companies is 60 years, Petronet, though headed by the government's top bureaucrat in the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, is registered as a private limited company.

Petronet is not under any government watchdog like CAG or CVC and is beyond the purview of RTI. Its board executives enjoy higher remuneration than PSUs and also retire at the age of 65 years.

Appointments to the board are made by a search-cum-selection committee of the board. It is made up of representatives of lead shareholders in the company, an independent director and an outside expert.

State-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), GAIL (India) Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) hold 12.5 per cent stake each in the company. The heads of the four blue-chip oil firms, who sit on the board of Petronet, superannuate at the age of 60 years.

According to Petronet's latest annual report, Singh is 64 years old, and the extension means he would retire at the age of 66 years.

'The Board of Directors of the company, in its Meeting held on November 7, have accorded their approval for extension of tenure of Akshay Kumar Singh as Managing Director & CEO and whole time Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) of the company from February 1, 2026, to May 12, 2027, inter-alia, on the existing terms and conditions,' Petronet said in the filing.

A mechanical engineer from MIT, Muzaffarpur (Bihar), and a post-graduate from South Gujarat University, Singh came to Petronet from Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), where he was Director (Pipelines).

Prior to joining the IOC board in 2018, Singh was an executive director at state-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd.

According to Petronet's latest annual report, Singh got a total remuneration of Rs 3.04 crore in 2024-25 (April 2024 to March 2025), including Rs 25.5 lakh as commission on profit. His remuneration included Rs 2.63 crore as salary and allowances, Rs 11.13 lakh as contribution to Provident Fund (PF) and Rs 3.81 lakh in other benefits and perks.

'Akshay Kumar Singh (DIN: 03579974) (aged 64 years) is a veteran of the oil and gas industry in India. His career spanning 40 years has wide-ranging experiences across design, engineering, planning, execution and O&M of complex pipeline systems and process plants,' reads his profile in the annual report.

Alongside Singh, the Petronet board has also extended the tenure of Pramod Narang as Director (Technical) for the company for a further period of two years, starting November 26 2025.

In 2024-25, Narang drew a total remuneration of Rs 1.94 crore.