Chemoil CEO Dies in Helicopter Crash

The Board of Directors of Chemoil Energy announced that the company’s CEO and Executive Chairman, Robert V Chandran passed away January 7, 2008 from injuries sustained when a helicopter he was traveling in crashed in the Riau Province of Indonesia. In the aircraft with Chandran was Terence Gidlow, Chemoil’s Vice President of Business Development, who was injured but is in stable condition.

Chandran built Chemoil Energy into one of the world’s leading independent suppliers of marine fuels since he founded the company in 1981. This was embodied when he lead the Chemoil Energy Limited’s successful listing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX-ST) Mainboard in December 2006.

Born in Mumbai, Chandran emigrated to California in 1976 where his entrepreneurial spirit took flight and had never looked back since. Chandran’s stint as a fuel trader in 1981 resulted in the founding of Chemoil Corporation in 1982. He took the company to the top of The Inc. 500 list in just four years, making Chemoil the 6th fastest growing private company in the U.S. by 1986. Chemoil became one of Forbes’ top 400 largest private American companies in 1991.

The company launched a successful IPO in December 2006 on the Main Board of Singapore Exchange, and simultaneously recorded a bumper year. He was recently ranked 14th on Forbes Asia Singapore’s Richest list.

He lectured at Oxford University’s Bunker Course, as well as INSEAD’s graduate program on Entrepreneurship. Chandran also taught at the Asian Institute of Management and the National University of Singapore and sat on various advisory panels and professional committees, including the International Energy Association, the American Petroleum Institute, the Worcester College Investment Committee and the Petroleum and Petrochemical Industry Committee by Singapore International Chamber of Commerce.

Chandran also served on the Board of Governors of the Asian Institute of Management and was also a member of the Steering Committee of M3TC (Minerals, Metals and Materials) at the National University of Singapore.