RK Dutta, first MD of Numaligarh Refinery, passes away in Kolkata

R. K Dutta, the first Managing Director of Numaligarh Refinery Limited, passed away at Kolkata after a brief illness. He was 75. Dutta served as the MD of NRL from August 1995 to April 2002. He also held the position of CMD of Oil India Limited from May 2002 till his superannuation in February 2006.

Dutta was considered a colossus in the Oil and Gas Industry and his contribution to the development of the Oil and Gas industry in the North East was unparalleled. He was one of the rare professionals in the Indian oil industry who had worked, headed and excelled in all the streams of oil industry, i.e., downstream, upstream and midstream.

He started his career at Assam Oil Company, Digboi- the birth place of oil industry in India. As a hard core oil marketing professional, he expanded Assam Oil’s penetration in retail marketing by building up retail outlets, developing fleet owners, building storage and supply terminals all over the North East India.

One of his biggest achievements was introduction of LPG in the army cook houses in 1985. Assam Oil was the first company to introduce this green fuel in the cook houses of the army at a time when the general perception was to use kerosene or fire wood as a kitchen fuel all over the country.