Executive Management

Pankaj Kalra

Pankaj Kalra

Whole-Time Director & Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Kalra has 23 years of experience and a demonstrated track record of working across multiple sectors….

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Ashish Kumar

Director - Exploration

Mr. Kumar has vast experience in geo-science operations, basin analysis, geo-technical data evaluation,….

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Nilesh Kamat

Resident Director

Mr. Kamat is a seasoned Project Leader with over 32 years of experience in delivering large to medium-scale EPC brownfield and greenfield….

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Nitin Singh

Nitin Singh

CFO - EEPLM

Mr. Singh is a dynamic strategy and finance professional and brings with him over a decade of cross-functional experience….

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Vikram Godey

Vikram Goday

Vice President & Head, Facility

Mr. Goday is a Mechanical Engineer (1984-1988) from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. He worked with India’ s premier oil & gas…..

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Jonathan Tandon

Jonathan Tandon

Vice President, Drilling

Mr. Tandon is a seasoned campaigner in oil and gas industry. He has been with Essar since 1986 and has been working…..

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Bibhu Parida

Director - Subsurface

Mr. Parida has 20 years of experience in unconventional hydrocarbon field development and reserve maximization….

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Domnic Nicklaus

Head - Human Resources

Mr. Nicklaus is a seasoned Human Resources leader with over 20 years of experience spanning the energy and
industrial sectors….

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Pankaj Kalra

Pankaj Kalra

Whole-Time Director & Chief Executive Officer

Pankaj Kalra has 23 years of experience and a demonstrated track record of working across multiple sectors. His functional skill set includes expertise in M&A, fundraising (both onshore and offshore), accounting, internal controls, procurement and financial modelling. Prior to joining Essar, he was CFO of Cairn Oil & Gas, and has been associated with Reliance, Aircel, Idea, American Tower and EY. Pankaj is a rank holder Chartered Accountant and a Company Secretary, with a Bachelor’s degree in commerce from Sri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi.

Ashish Kumar

Director - Exploration

Mr Kumar is the Director – Exploration. He is responsible for managing the Oil & Gas operations in Vietnam and Nigeria exploration blocks, execution and delivery of operational and capital programme targets, interface management with operating partners, regulators, etc. He also contributes to strategic portfolio management decisions including technical due diligence of new business prospects.

Mr Kumar has vast experience in geo-science operations, basin analysis, geo-technical data evaluation, etc. Mr Kumar also works extensively on growth strategies of the energy business, reviewing hydrocarbon value chain integration and portfolio management. He also worked in senior management cadre in International Business Development Group of Reliance Industries Ltd (Petroleum Business) and as General Manager, Kurdistan, Iraq project before joining Essar. 

During his global professional career in oil and gas exploration, he played a key role in significant oil / gas discoveries in Iran, Iraq and Vietnam.

He joined ONGC in 1986 as a graduate trainee and worked in various positions till December 2005. He won ONGC’s prestigious Executive of The Year, 2001 Award for outstanding performance in the area of petroleum exploration. He has 8 national and international papers to his name.

Nilesh Kamat

Resident Director

Nilesh Kamat is a seasoned Project Leader with over 32 years of experience in delivering large to medium-scale EPC brownfield and greenfield projects across the Oil & Gas, Petrochemicals, Pipelines, Infrastructure, and Storage Terminals sectors. He possesses strong expertise in end-to-end project execution, from concept to commissioning, along with project management, capacity expansion, regulatory compliance, and asset digitization.

He has a proven track record of collaborating effectively with Boards, government authorities (including PESO, DGMS, CPCB, and Forest departments), licensors, and EPC partners to ensure projects are delivered safely, on schedule, and within budget.

Nilesh holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Instrumentation from PVPIT, Sangli, Maharashtra, and a Bachelor of Law from TMC Law College, Mumbai University.

Currently, at EOGEPL, he leads a diverse portfolio encompassing Facilities & Pipeline Operations and Maintenance, Special Projects, HSE, and Boundary Management.

Nitin Singh

Nitin Singh

Chief Commercial Officer

Nitin is a dynamic strategy and finance professional and brings with him over a decade of cross-functional experience, working across metals, oil & gas, infrastructure, and logistics business verticals.

He joins us from the Promoter Office (Ports & Logistics) of Adani Group. Prior to this, Nitin was the lead for Energy Vertical at Essar Capital and was working on new business and fund raising initiatives of the E&P business. Nitin has worked with alongside global consultants, including McKinsey and PwC – Strategy & focusing on developing petroleum retail expansion and gas marketing & distribution strategy for Essar.

Previous to above, he was part of Essar Group’s Investor Relations team and was instrumental in rekindling Management’s connect with leading brokerage houses for Steel & ITES businesses. He was also part of the initial strategy & BD team, PMO and later the transition team of Essar which had led the Stanlow Refinery acquisition. Nitin is an Electronics & Communication Engineer from Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum and an MBA in Finance & Marketing from Symbiosis International University, Pune.

Vikram Godey

Vikram Godey

Vice President & Head, Facility

Vikram is a Mechanical Engineer (1984-1988) from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam. He worked with India’ s premier oil & gas company ONGC (1989-2004), mostly in offshore oil & gas processing installations as an operations & maintenance engineer. He also worked in the offshore engineering & construction division as a project engineer responsible for execution of global turnkey projects right from conceptualisation to commissioning of offshore process/wellhead platforms and subsea pipelines. Subsequently Vikram relocated to Singapore (till 2011) covering the entire south east Asia region as a rotating equipment vibration engineer. He served as a third party vibration consultant for major oil companies like Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, Petronas Carigali etc. Vikram also worked in the pharmaceutical, power and marine segments in a similar role. Experienced in industrial automation projects (Siemens PLC, AC/DC drives etc), Vikram also worked in LPG storage installations, oil/chemical tank farms etc.

Jonathan Tandon

Jonathan Tandon

Vice President, Drilling

Jonathan Tandon is a seasoned campaigner in oil and gas industry. He has been with Essar since 1986 and has been working in various roles in E&P division of erstwhile Essar Oil Limited. He has wide experience in setting up the Vadinar Refinery. Jonathon started his career as Direct Man and gradually rose to the level of Vice President, Drilling. He has presided over drilling operations of EOGEPL since its inception. He holds Diploma in Mechanical Engineering.

Bibhu Parida

Director - Subsurface

Bibhu has 20 years of experience in unconventional hydrocarbon field development and reserve maximization. Currently, he is guiding the geoscience, reservoir, production and drilling team, overseeing the integration of subsurface insights and technological advancements while driving the strategic initiatives for enhanced hydrocarbon recovery.

 

He holds a Master’s degree in Applied Geology from IIT (ISM) Dhanbad and is in the final stages of a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering from Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune. He is also a certified data scientist from IIT, Kanpur. Bibhu has made significant contributions to the unconventional hydrocarbon industry, with over 10 publications and technical reviews in leading industry journals. He is an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and has served as a speaker and panelist at various national and international forums.

 

Previously, Bibhu has worked in Reliance Industries Ltd, where he held the position of Senior General Manager and Head of Reservoir Engineering for the Coal Bed Methane (CBM) business. In Reliance, he was instrumental in exploration to appraisal to development of one of the largest unconventional hydrocarbon projects in India. He strategized the first multi-lateral horizontal well based development plan in India for CBM and successfully reversed field production decline trend. He began his professional journey as an exploration geologist with Tata Steel Limited, where he contributed to the exploration initiatives leading to development of captive coal and iron mines.

 

 

Domnic Nicklaus

Head - Human Resources

Domnic is a seasoned Human Resources leader and trusted advisor to the C-suite, with 20 years of experience across the energy and industrial sectors. He brings rich expertise in talent strategy, organizational development, and HR transformation, with a strong track record of aligning people practices to drive business performance and organizational effectiveness.

He has held senior HR leadership roles at Essar Steel and Essar Oil, and subsequently at Nayara Energy, where he led strategic initiatives to build organizational capability, strengthen leadership pipelines, and foster high-performance cultures. He has also driven enterprise-wide interventions across talent acquisition, performance management, rewards, and HR digitalization.

As Head of Human Resources at EOGEPL, Domnic leads the HR function with a focus on enabling business growth through talent, enhancing employee engagement, and embedding a performance-driven culture. He works closely with the leadership team to align HR strategy with business priorities and support long-term value creation.

 

Domnic holds an Executive Post Graduate Diploma in Human Resource Management from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.