Gas and Oil first OMC to offer electric vehicle chargers in Pakistan
The company set to 1,000 retail outlets across the country
Deregulating the market likely usher into bright prospect
Concerted effort needed to push investment in the sector for revenue boost
Interview with Mr Khalid Riaz – CEO, Gas & Oil Pakistan Limited
[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Khalid Riaz, Chief Executive Officer of Gas & Oil Pakistan Limited (GO) is a veteran of the retail and oil transportation sector with rich experience in the field spanning more than 35 years. Khalid Riaz comes from a traditional family of Qabula Sharif, which is also his hometown. In 1979, at a very young age, he started his career by joining his father’s family business, which dealt in petroleum products. In 1981, he started his first retail outlet and went onto opening new retail outlets. In 1998, he started his logistics services, which eventually became a big logistics network providing services to major oil marketing companies (OMCs) in Pakistan. In 2011, he came up with the idea of starting an OMC, which was taken forward. He partnered with Sheikh Shehzad Mubeen and Bilal A. Ansari to form GO.[/box]
[box type=”shadow” align=”” class=”” width=””]Milestones achieved by GO
2015 – OGRA permission to initiate Sales & Marketing of petroleum products in Punjab.
2016 – OGRA permission to initiate Sales & Marketing of petroleum products in Sindh.
2017 – OGRA permission to initiate Sales & Marketing of petroleum products in Khyber Pakhthunkhwa (KPK).
2017 – Conversion to public limited company (unlisted).
2018 – Strategic partnership with Vitol by having 10% equity investment.
2018 – Commissioning of Mahmoodkot Terminal, the state-of-the-art and the largest oil storage facility of any OMC in Punjab.
2019 – OGRA permission to initiate Sales & Marketing of petroleum products in Balochistan.
2019 – Permanent Marketing License by OGRA.
2020 – First OMC to introduce Electric Vehicle Chargers in Pakistan.[/box]
Following are excerpts from an exclusive interview with Khalid Riaz.
PAGE: Where does GO rank amongst other OMCs operating in Pakistan?
Khalild Riaz: GO is the fastest growing OMC with a network of over 670 retail outlets operating in Pakistan with a market share of approximately 10%. GO is operating in all the provinces of the country with presence on main highways and motorways. GO is the first OMC to introduce Electric Vehicle Chargers in Pakistan. GO was ranked as the 5th largest OMC in 2019 and is at the 3rd position (Petrol and Diesel) for January-October 2020 period. By 2022, GO plans to have more than 1,000 retail outlets across Pakistan by having presence on motorways and highways.
PAGE: How big is GO storage infrastructure?
Khalild Riaz: GO has oil storage depots and terminals across Pakistan with a total available storage of approximately 200,000 MTs. GO’s Storage Infrastructure consists of depots in Daulatpur (Sindh), Sarai Naurang (KPK), Sahiwal, Kotlajam, Vehari depots and a state-of-the-art Terminal at Mahmoodkot in the vicinity of PARCO Mid-Country Refinery, which is the largest oil storage facility of any OMC in Punjab. GO Terminal is at Hub in the province of Balochistan. The company also has 36,000 MTs storage at Port Qasim under a long-term arrangement with Fauji Trans Terminal Limited (FTTL).
PAGE: How much of the total supplies are being imported and which country is the biggest source of supply?
Khalild Riaz: Approximately 90% of petrol and 60% of diesel has been imported so far in 2020 with the balance procured from local refineries. Currently, majority of the supplies come from the Middle East region mainly UAE and Saudi Arabia.
PAGE: Does GO sell LNG and what is its share in total sales?
Khalild Riaz: Currently, GO has not ventured into the LNG market.
PAGE: Punjab seems to be the biggest market for GO. How does it transfer imported POL products to Punjab?
Khalild Riaz: GO utilizes the White Oil Pipeline (WOP) to move Diesel from Karachi to upcountry. We also have a fleet of over 800 tank trucks equipped with Satellite Tracking System and in the near future GO also plans to participate in the WOP for petrol, which will help to further reduce road congestion.
PAGE: How badly was GO hit when crude oil prices touched negative in April this year?
Khalild Riaz: The negative prices experienced in the world markets related to WTI crude. Brent crude, applicable to our region also experienced unprecedented decline but did not go negative.
The petroleum products consumed in Pakistan are a combination of locally produced (by local refineries from local and imported crude) as well as refined product imports. Despite enormous difficulties, GO continued its local upliftment from refineries and managed to import at higher rates as soon as the import ban was lifted and continued to supply its retail outlets without any interruption.
PAGE: How the problems could be avoided in future?
Khalild Riaz: The problem can be avoided in the future by deregulating the market. Whilst we need to make sure that Pakistan has ample strategic stocks available at all times and the production from local refineries is uplifted first under long term arrangements between refineries and OMCs, the balance must be left to the OMCs to import so they can build stocks to meet the needs of their customers. The above requires a concerted effort from the Government and will not only ensure that the customers get better products and the sector continues to invest in the future of this fast-changing industry but will also result in better revenue for the Government.