GK Satish, 62, is the first Indian to be appointed to Rosneft’s board of directors. (representative)
New Delhi:
Russian energy giant Rosneft has appointed a former director of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to its board of directors.
GK Satish, who retired as director of business development at IOC in 2021, is one of three new faces appointed to Rosneft’s 11-member board of directors, according to a statement from the Russian company.
Mr Satish, 62, is the first Indian to be appointed to Rosneft’s board of directors.
Rosneft has partnerships with GK Satish’s former company in oil and gas fields in Russia. It also sells crude oil to IOC and other Indian companies and has started shipping naphtha to refineries in Gujarat in recent months.
His appointment takes on significance as Rosneft is now eyeing more deals with Indian companies, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales.
Mr. Satish, who has a deep understanding of the Indian oil and gas market and expertise in the marketing of petroleum products, petrochemicals, LNG and international trade, is one of five independent directors on Rosneft’s board of directors.
During his stint on the IOC Board from 1 September 2016, Satish also chaired IndianOil Adani Gas Pvt Ltd – the joint venture IOC had formed with Adani Group for the sale of CNG and pipeline cooking gas. That venture helped the Adani Group become a town gas and it is now the largest operator.
Rosneft said its shareholders elected a new board of directors consisting of 11 members at the annual general meeting on June 30. Igor I Sechin, a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, will remain Rosneft’s CEO and chairman of the board.
Other named members include “Govind Kottis Satish, Managing Director, Value Prolific Consulting Services Pvt Ltd (ValPro),” it said.
ValPro is the company where Satish joined as Managing Director in 2022. ValPro advises on mergers and acquisitions and investment banking. Former IOC President MA Pathan sits on the Advisory Board and the top management includes former IOC executives.
Russia sells about 2 million barrels of crude oil per day or 100 million tons annually to Indian companies.
Rosneft has a forward deal to sell 6 million tonnes of crude oil a year to Satish’s former company and is considering similar deals with other state-owned refineries, including Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL).
Rosneft is also a majority shareholder in Nayara Energy, which operates a 20 million ton per annum refinery at Vadinar in Gujarat and owns more than 6,300 gas pumps in the country.
In 2016, IOC along with Bharat PetroResources Ltd (part of BPCL) and Oil India Ltd bought a 23.9 percent stake in Rosneft’s Vankor oil field for $2.02 billion. The consortium also took a 29.9 percent stake in a separate Taas-Yuryakh oil field in eastern Siberia for $1.12 billion.
IOC is India’s largest importer of Russian oil and the only company with a long-term supply agreement with Rosneft.
Rosneft’s board consists of representatives from Qatar and the Philippines.
“Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada (Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Dohal University of Science and Technology) has been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rosneft Oil Company,” said Rosneft.
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