The government is keen on having a greater say in the affairs of Petronet LNG as it is looking at appointing a senior civil servant as director on board of the nation’s biggest liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer. The firm in which state-owned oil and gas sector companies GAIL, IOC, ONGC and BPCL hold 12.5 per cent stake each is a private firm with the petroleum secretary as its non-executive chairman. Industry sources claimed that the petroleum ministry is toying with the idea of appointing a joint secretary on the board of the company to get a greater say in the procurement of LNG from nations like Qatar. Apurva Chandra, joint secretary (marketing and gas) in ministry of petroleum and natural gas, attended the Petronet board meeting last week as a special invitee and may be the ministry’s choice for becoming a full-time director on the company’s board, reports PTI.
Sources said the government cannot nominate any director on Petronet as it is not a shareholder in the company. A ministry official cannot be an independent director nor can he be considered as a promoter-director. A ministry nominee may fail the corporate governance norms, set out by market regulator SEBI, according to which all the four promoter PSUs have been given a position on the company board.
Besides, the French firm GDF International, which has 10 per cent stake and Gujarat Maritime Board and Asian Development Bank, which have 5.2 per cent interest, have been given directorial position in capacity as promoter. An additional director can be appointed on Petronet board only with approval of the company shareholders and after passing the muster of SEBI and DPE guidelines.

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