Satya Pal Wahi

Satya Pal Wahi was an Indian corporate executive, army officer, technocrat, writer and a former chairman of public sector enterprises such as the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) and the Cement Corporation of India (CCI). He was a member the Corps of EME and held the rank of a colonel. A recipient of the degree of Doctor of Science (honoris causa) from three Indian universities, Wahi also received honors such as the Petrotech Lifetime Achievement Award, the Indian Geophysical Union Silver jubilee Award and the Giants international Award.

Biography Satya Pal Wahi, born in Khushab, a small village near Lahore of the British India graduated in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from Banaras Hindu University. Subsequently, he joined the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, and after completing his training in 1950, served at the Corps of EME of the Indian Army, retiring from military service holding the rank of a colonel. During his stint with the army, he also worked with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers of the British Army for a while, and was stationed in UK and Germany. Later, he served many corporate enterprises which included Bokaro Steel Plant (1969–74), Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) (1974–78), handling various portfolios, before joining Cement Corporation of India (CCI), a wholly owned company of the Government of India as its chairman. He is known to have turned the loss-making CCI into a profitable business enterprise and in 1981, he was appointed as the chairman of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission, the largest oil and gas exploration and production company in India, when Indira Gandhi was in power as Prime Minister.

Wahi chaired the organization, completing his first term in 1986, His tenure at ONGC coincided with the oil find in Bombay High offshore oilfields and he has been credited with contributions in raising India's oil output from 9 million tonnes to 32 million tonnes per annum. is reported to have details about the political interference and bureaucratic malpractices prevalent in the Indian industrial sector during that period. During the 7th International Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (Petrotech-2007) held in New Delhi, he was awarded the Petrotech Lifetime Achievement Award.