Deepak Gupta’s ascent to the corner office at GAIL India in March this year is a culmination of a steady journey through the complex world of hydrocarbons. The dynamic GAIL India chairman and managing director is a seasoned veteran with over three-and-a-half decades of experience in the oil and gas sector.

Fresh out of college after graduating in mechanical engineering from Delhi College of Engineering, young Deepak hit the ground running with a challenging job at Engineers India (EIL). Since then he has often been on the field, rain or shine, and spent a large part of his career across core engineering and project delivery departments.

At EIL, he led and executed major refinery and petrochemical assignments, including the Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Complex in Nigeria. He was also a vital part of Guru Gobind Singh Refinery in Bathinda, Punjab, as the engineering, procurement and project management consultant for EIL, the State-owned project management consultant. Another major EIL project took Mr Gupta to the Far East across Mongolia, where he was a part of the engineering company’s end-to-end consultancy services to put up the Mongol Refinery Project.  

After EIL, another glorious innings began at GAIL in February 2022, where too Mr Gupta was firmly on the ground, executing many oil and gas projects. Starting off as projects director at the country’s largest natural gas pipeline company, Mr Gupta played a central role in expanding GAIL’s pipeline networks and petrochemical capacities. His tenure here has been marked by his supervision of critical pipeline and infrastructure projects.

Earlier in his career at GAIL, he was also involved in the rollout of city gas distribution networks in sensitive zones, such as the Taj Trapezium. This assignment combined engineering skills with environmental constraints. In fact, Mr Gupta’s professional arc reflects a consistent theme of project-led leadership.

Now, as CMD of GAIL, he takes charge at a pivotal moment. India is pushing to increase the share of natural gas in its energy basket from about 6 to 15 per cent over the next decade. The shift is being expedited for India to be in tune with the world, which is rapidly reshaping its global energy landscape through decarbonisation. For GAIL, this translates into a dual challenge of expanding pipeline infrastructure and LNG sourcing, while pivoting towards cleaner fuels such as hydrogen and biogas.

Meanwhile, the ongoing war in West Asia has come as a rude jolt to India’s ambitious energy transition plan. Suddenly, the vital gas seems to be evaporating, with Iran blocking the lifeline Homuz Strait in its defence against the attack from the US and Israel. Besides, large vessels and tankers have been stranded in high seas, with the Gulf of Persia under severe fire. India is feeling this heat, with nearly 70 per cent of its gas supply in the form of LPG and LNG facing disruption.

Mr Gupta’s immediate test will lie in accelerating many of GAIL’s pipeline projects – a major priority spelt out by the Union government. Coincidentally, project execution is Mr Gupta’s forte, and he is already setting the ball rolling in this direction.