Government names Sunil Kumar ONGC chairman; to succeed Arun Singh in December

New Delhi: The government has appointed ONGC executive director Sunil Kumar as chairman of India’s largest oil and gas producer, succeeding Arun Singh, a former BPCL chairman who was brought out of retirement to lead the company four years ago.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved Kumar’s appointment for three years from December 7, a day after Singh’s term ends. The tenure includes a contractual year beyond the age of 60, which Kumar turns in December 2028.

A petroleum ministry search-cum-selection committee recommended Kumar after interviewing candidates from within and outside ONGC over the past few months.


An engineering graduate of the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, Kumar later studied management at Management Development Institute, Gurgaon. His recent assignments have included ONGC’s offshore project in the Krishna-Godavari basin and its Mehsana fields in Gujarat.

Kumar takes charge amid global energy market turmoil, with conflicts and sanctions reshaping trade flows and keeping oil and gas prices elevated.

Under Singh, ONGC reported healthy profits and paid substantial dividends to shareholders, including the government. Singh also took steps to arrest output declines from ageing fields and improve returns on production.

A key boost came in 2023, when the government revised domestic gas pricing rules, introducing a floor price for gas from nomination fields and linking rates to crude oil. It also allowed ONGC to charge up to 12% of crude prices for gas from new wells. The changes, long sought by the company, improved returns and influenced investment decisions.

Singh also brought in BP as a technical service provider to raise output from ONGC’s ageing flagship Mumbai High field and other western offshore assets. The results will be closely watched under Kumar. Singh also restructured ONGC’s capital-intensive petrochemicals business in a bid to make it profitable.

Other initiatives, including plans to enter international oil trading and expand domestic gas marketing, remain works in progress.

Singh’s tenure also saw a thaw in relations with Reliance Industries. ONGC teamed up with Reliance and BP for a joint exploration bid, marking a significant shift after ONGC sued Reliance in 2014 over alleged unauthorised extraction of gas from an adjoining field in the Krishna-Godavari basin.