Petronet's A K Balyan is Reliance Group's oil and gas business head

Ashok Kumar Balyan, former chief executive of Petronet LNG Ltd has joined Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group as CEO of its oil & gas business.

"Among other areas, Balyan shall be leading the Group's efforts toward setting up of LNG terminal and LNG procurement for the Bangladesh power project being implemented by Reliance Power as well as other opportunities in the oil and gas space," the company said in a press statement.

Balyan completed a five year term as the managing director and chief executive officer of Petronet, India's largest liquefied natural gas importer, on July 15.

Reliance Power has recently announced setting up of 3,000 MW LNG based power plant and a LNG terminal in Bangladesh. The total investment in the project which will be implemented in phases is estimated to be around Rs 18,000 crore.

"Balyan brings along with him rich experience of over four decades in strategic planning, operations management, business development and human resources in oil and gas sector," the statement said. He will be based out of Delhi.

Prior to Petronet, Balyan was with Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) for nearly three decades. He was the director off human resource development at ONGC before being appointed as the CEO of Petronet.