Overview

The pioneer of the natural gas industry in the country, Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) has been a frontline player in the energy sector since the mid-1950s. As a major supplier of natural gas, PPL today contributes some 25 percent of the country’s total natural gas supplies besides producing crude oil, Natural Gas Liquid and Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

The company’s history can be traced back to the establishment of a public limited company in June 1950, with major shareholding by Burmah Oil Company (BOC) of the United Kingdom for exploration, prospecting, development and production of oil and natural gas resources. In September 1997, BOC disinvested from the Exploration and Production (E&P) sector worldwide and sold its equity in PPL to the Government of Pakistan. Subsequently, the government reduced its holding through an initial public offer in June 2004, which was further decreased with the initiation of the Benazir Employees Stock Option Scheme (BESOS) in August 2009 when PPL employees were allotted 12 percent shares from the government’s equity. Currently, the company’s shareholding is divided between the government, which owns about 71 percent, PPL Employees Empowerment Trust that has approximately 7 percent — being shares transferred to employees under BESOS — and private investors, who hold nearly 22 percent.

PPL operates six producing fields across the country at Sui (Pakistan’s largest gas field), Adhi, Kandhkot, Chachar, Mazarani and Hala and holds working interest in twelve partner-operated producing fields, including Qadirpur the country’s second largest gas field.

As a major stakeholder in securing a safe energy future for the country, PPL pursues an aggressive exploration agenda aimed at enhancing hydrocarbon recovery and replenish reserves. In Pakistan, the company’s exploration portfolio comprises 34 exploration blocks. Of these, PPL operates 19 blocks and has working interest in 15 as non-operating partner, including Offshore Indus G that is slated to be added to the company's partner-operated assets . PPL is also among the first local E&P companies to extend its operations beyond national borders and has an interest in an exploration licence in Yemen in a joint venture with OMV and Yemen General Corporation for Oil and Gas.

Over the years, PPL has developed a reliable foundation and infrastructure for providing clean and safe energy through sustainable exploitation of indigenous natural resources while adhering to best practices of corporate governance and employee health and safety and constraining the ecological footprint of its operations. As a result, Monitoring and Inspection, Design and Construction, Drilling Operations, Joint Operations and Projects departments, Mazarani, Adhi, Kandhkot and Chachar fields, Sui Field Gas Compressor Station, Sui Production, Sui Field Engineering and Sui Purification stand certified for ISO 9001 Quality Management System.

Similarly, Kandhkot, Mazarani, Adhi and Chachar fields, Sui Production, Sui Field Gas Compressor Station, Sui Field Stores, Sui Field Engineering and Drilling Operations, Design and Construction, Projects, Health, Safety and Environment departments and Sui Field Hospital have been certified for ISO 14001 Environmental Management System and OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series. Sui Purification is also certified for OHSAS 18001.

PPL has played a significant role as a responsible corporate citizen since the inception of its commercial activities in Sui by establishing the Sui Model School in 1957 for children of workers and local communities. In 2001, the PPL Welfare Trust was founded to provide geographical and thematic diversity to the company’s CSR programme, which currently includes education, health, infrastructure development and socio-economic uplift of disadvantaged communities living in and around its operating areas as well as other parts of the country.

Further information on PPL can be obtained from the company's brochure Full Throttle