Sanjiv Singh has taken over as the Chairman of the country’s biggest company Indian Oil Corporation.

He replaces B Ashok who superannuated yesterday.

Prior to his elevation, Singh was Director (Refineries) on the IOC board since July 2014.

“Concurrently, he will also be Chairman of Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd (CPCL) and Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Ltd (HURL) , a joint venture company set up to revive the fertiliser plants at Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni,” a company statement said.

A chemical engineer from IIT—Roorkee with a diploma in Management, Singh joined IOC in 1981. In his over 35 years career, he spearheaded refinery operations as well as mega greenfield and brownfield projects in refining and petrochemicals.

“With extensive experience in the refining sector, Singh played a key role in the setting up, commissioning and stabilisation of two of IOC’s biggest greenfield refineries at Panipat and Paradip.

“The commissioning of IOC’s 11th refinery at Paradip in early 2016, with a capex of Rs 34,555 crore, is his benchmark contribution to the Indian refining sector,” the statement said.

He also steered the successful implementation of the petrochemical projects of Paraxylene/PTA and Naphtha Cracker with downstream units at Panipat Refinery.