While Mr Chhabra was unavailable for comment on the issue, top industry sources told The Financial Express that it was "only a matter of time" before this news became official.

Mr Chhabra (44) began his career in Bharat Petroleum Corporation where he spent a large part of his tenure. He quit as director (finance) to join Bharat Shell as deputy managing director in 1995.

A couple of years later, he was roped in as MD for Petronet India, the joint venture pipelines company and the brainchild of Dr Vijay Kelkar, who was then the petroleum secretary. Mr Chhabra joined Petronet in May 1997 and it was taken for granted that he would have a long stint here.

Naturally, his decision to resign early this year took the oil industry by surprise as things seemed to be progressing smoothly at Petronet. Three key pipeline projects had been identified with others on the anvil. The concept of a common carrier principle was acceptable to oil companies and Chhabra's contribution was also acknowledged.

When he quit abruptly, speculation was rife that this was a result of several factors. Apparently, a couple of oil companies began displaying their dissent and unhappiness with the pace of progress at Petronet.

IndianOil, for instance, made no bones about the fact that it was capable of executing product pipelines on its own without routing these through the Petronet umbrella. Similarly, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation was "not exactly proactive" and insiders say that there were needless arguments and debates at board meetings on trivial issues. To add to this, there was no solution to the "take-or-pay" concept for the pipelines with most oil companies refusing to fall in line.

It was a strange coincidence that when Mr Chhabra put in his papers at Petronet, the company revised the pay scales of its top staff leading to more speculation on the reasons for his departure.

Little is known of his short stint at KEC International, though some big names in the oil industry have hinted that he is scheduled for a homecoming.

Mehta to step down as joint MD of MRPL
Jagdish Mehta has stepped down as joint MD of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL), the nine million tonne refinery promoted by HPCL and the AV Birla group of companies. He is tipped to join another Birla group company, though reports doing the rounds suggest that the Ruias of Essar Oil are very keen to rope him in.

No reason has been cited for Mr Mehta's decision especially when, as a Birla group nominee, he stayed on for years despite the fact that HPCL withdrew three of their joint MD nominees during this time. His replacement is rumoured to be Ravi Kastiya from one of the companies in the AV Birla group, though this could not be confirmed. Mr Mehta was close to finalising a memorandum of understanding for MRPL with Kuwait Petroleum Corporation when news of his departure reached industry circles.