Karle Receives Oil Industry Award for Exemplary Service
Arun Karle, right, shares his IADC award with his wife Rashmi (seated left) and daughters Sangeeta (left, rear) and Radhika. Karle’s third daughter, Madhura, as well as her husband Kabir were managing the Askara business in India.
By Pramod Kulkarni
NEW ORLEANS: A long-time resident of Houston, who now splits his time between Houston and Mumbai, Arun Karle has received one of the highest honors awarded by the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC). At its Annual General Meeting in New Orleans during Nov. 7 – 9, 2018, the IADC presented its Exemplary Service Award to Arun in the presence of his colleagues, family and friends.
Arun is a founding member of the IADC South Central Asia Chapter (IADC SCA), and has also served as vice-chairman from 2001–2005 and, continues to be a very active member on its board. For IADC, Arun serves as a Global Ambassador.
In accepting this award, Arun noted that the success of the IADC SCA is through the support of IADC in Houston, key Drilling Contractors in India as well as Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, all working together.
Arun, the founder of the Askara Group, is well recognized in the Oil & Gas industry as a technocrat for his sincere passion and boundless enthusiasm to introduce fit-for-purpose technologies and solutions for the upstream oil and gas activity in India.
After earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from Mumbai University, Arun obtained his Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lamar University. Arun then joined Schlumberger in Houston, with whom he worked for 22 years globally in several senior management positions.
In 1992, Arun decided to take the entrepreneurial route and founded the Askara Group of Companies. Under his able leadership and with 45+ valuable years of experience, Askara has been extremely successful in providing business and technical consulting to over 30+ international companies from its offices in Houston and Mumbai.
Aside from Askara, Arun and his wife Rashmi have dedicated their time and funds to promote education in their native village in Konkan, Maharashtra. The Shirgaon Panchakroshi School was started by Arun’s father in 1955 and, through Arun and Rashmi’s efforts, the school provides access to education for over 1,000 children.