PPL Pakistan

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 over 20 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 (GOP). 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. More recently, GOP further disinvested its 5 percent shares, around 3.55 percent of the total paid-up capital, in PPL through Secondary Public Offering in 2014. Currently, the company’s shareholding is divided between the government, which owns about 68 percent, PPL Employees Empowerment Trust that has approximately 7 percent — being shares transferred to employees under BESOS — and private investors, who hold nearly 25 percent.PPL has acquired 100 percent shareholding of MND E&P Limited, a company incorporated in England and Wales. The name of the subsidiary has been changed to PPL Europe E&P Limited.The company has also established a wholly-owned subsidiary, PPL Asia E&P B.V. with corporate seat in Amsterdam, Kingdom of Netherlands. The subsidiary will focus on exploration and production of oil and gas in the region. PPL has assigned its interest in Block 8, Iraq, under the Exploration, Development and Produ