Attock Group of Companies

TEXT: The Attock Oil Company Limited

The Attock Oil Company Limited (AOC) was incorporated in England on Dec. 1,1913 and extended into Pakistan as branch office of a foreign company for principal business of exploration, drilling and production of petroleum products.

AOC met its first oil discovery in 1915 at Khaur, district Attock. Thereafter, AOC made significant contributions in promoting oil and gas exploration in the Country by opening up the Potwar Basin as a new oil territory. The Potwar Basin remained the only oil producing basin in Pakistan till the early 1970s.

In 1978, AOC transferred its exploration, production and refining business to its subsidiaries namely Pakistan Oilfields Limited and Attock Refinery Limited respectively. Presently, AOC is operating in Pakistan as a non-operated joint venture partner in various petroleum concession agreements along with other exploration and production companies.

Besides above, AOC holds majority shareholding and management control in Pakistan Oilfields Limited, Attock Refinery Limited, Attock Gen Limited, National Refinery Limited and Attock Energy (Pvt.) Limited. Other major associated companies of AOC include Attock Petroleum Limited and Attock Cement Pakistan Limited.

Pakistan Oilfields Limited

Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) promoted by the Attock Oil Company Limited (AOC) was incorporated on November 25, 1950 as a Pakistani Oil Exploration and Production Company. In 1978, POL took over from AOC, the entire oil and gas exploration, production, gas processing and transportation activities. Since then, it has been investing independently and in joint ventures with various E&P companies for the search of oil and gas in Pakistan.

POL is a major producer of oil and gas in Pakistan and is listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange Limited. Aside from exploration and production of oil and gas, POL also operates an extensive network of pipelines fortransporting its own crude oil from Khaur, as well as that of others, to Attock Refinery Limited. POL has gas processing plants at Meyal and Pindori fields. It also manufactures LPG, Solvent Oil and Sulphur. It also holds marketing license for LPG and is selling bottled LPG underthe brand name of POLGAS. POL has a subsidiary, namely CAPGAS (Pvt.) Ltd., engaged in the marketing and distribution of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) under the brand name of CAPGAS.

Attock Refinery Limited

Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) is the pioneer in crude oil refining in the Country with its operations dating back to 1922. From batch distillation stills of 2,500 barrel per day (bpd) capacity, ARL has today grown into a modern state-of-the-art refinery with capacity of 53,400 bpd. It is receiving and processing crude from Northern Oilfields of Pakistan.

ARL was incorporated as a Private Limited Company in November 1978 to take the business of AOC relating to refining of crude oil and supplying of refined petroleum products. It was subsequently converted into a Public Limited Company in June 1979 and is listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange Limited. Strategically located at Rawalpindi, ARL's configuration allows it to process from the heaviest to the lightest (10-65 API) crudes to produce a complete range of Petroleum Products from LPG to Asphalt including specialty products such as Jet Fuels, Cutback Asphalts, Polymer Modified Asphalt, Jute Batching Oil and Mineral Turpentine Oil.

The latest Expansion / Up-gradation Project completed in November 2016 comprised of Diesel Hydro Desulphurization (DHDS) Unit, Pre-flash Unit, Light Naphtha Isomerization Unit and expansion of existing Captive Power Plantto25MW.

National Refinery Limited

The Attack Group through the process of privatization acquired 51% shareholding of National Refinery Limited (NRL), Karachi with management control in 2005, thus becoming one of the largest Group in Oil & Gas sectors of Pakistan.

NRL was incorporated as a Public Limited Company at Karachi in 1963 and is listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange Limited. NRL is a petroleum refining and petrochemical complex producing a wide range of fuels, lubes, BTX (petrochemicals), bitumen and specialty products for domestic consumption and exports. NRL has crude oil processing capacity of 70,000 barrels per day (bpd). Its lube refineries have a design capacity of 192,200 TPA of lube base oils (LBO) and 200,000 TPA of bitumen and its BTX unit has a design capacity of 25,000 TPA. NRL is the only refinery producing lube base oils in Pakistan.

In the year 2017, NRL commissioned a Diesel Hydrotreater, its associated plants and an Isomerization Unit to improve its Diesel and Motor Gasoline to Euro-II specifications.

Attock Petroleum Limited

Attack Petroleum Limited (APL), listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange Limited, sponsored by the Pharaon Investment Group Limited Holding SAL and Attock Group of Companies, started its operations in February 1998. APL was established as a marketing arm of Attock Group of Companies operating within downstream petroleum sector in Pakistan.

APL is continuously expanding its retail network from Karachi to Khunjerab, consisting of approximately 1000 retail outlets; including those that are in various stages of construction and securing necessary approvals from regulators. The Company's retail outlets are fully equipped with modern hardware and provide inimitable services to the customers. Further, 10 storage terminals spread across Pakistan have been either commissioned or are under construction with state-of-the-art technology, having cumulative storage capacity of over 250,000 M. Tons of various petroleum products.

Being part of the Country's fully integrated oil group, the Company deals in marketing and distribution of the widest range of petroleum products including Asphalt, Lubricants and Aviation Fuels, serving local and international clients. APL is also facilitating export of Naphtha and Lube Base Oils to Middle East, Far East and South Asia. Our retail outlets also offer premium non-fuel retail services such as Attock Smart Fuel Cards, Lube Change, ATM Facilities, Convenience Stores, Tyre Service and CarWash etc. APL has successfully established Pakistan's largest and state-of-the-art Fuel Farm & Hydrant Refueling System at Islamabad International Airport to cater for refueling requirements of all air carriers (under JV arrangement). A great achievement for APL is to be acknowledged as the first national Oil Marketing Company to be an associated member of Joint Inspection group (JIG) - the hallmark standard in global aviation industry.

Supplements

Attock Cement Pakistan Limited

Attock Cement Pakistan Limited (ACPL) was incorporated in Pakistan on October 14,1981 as a public limited company. The Company started its commercial production on June 1, 1988. The Company was listed at PakistanStock Exchange Limited in June 2002. Presently, the Company operates 3 production lines having total clinker production capacity of 3 Million Tons per Annum. The Company's plant is located in Tehsil Hub, District Lasbella, Balochistan.

The Company markets its product with the brand name of FALCON, which enjoys immense popularity all over Pakistan as well as in the international market. The brand commands premium in the core markets of Karachi, interior Sindh and Balochistan due to its superior quality.

The Company ensures that its product, price, place and promotion are reflected in the form of satisfaction to its valued customers. That makes “FALCON” the market leader and trusted name in the construction sector of Pakistan. Besides the local market, ACPL is exporting large quantity of quality clinker and cement both in bags and bulk to various countries across Asia / Africa region and is one of the leading cement / clinker exporters from Pakistan.

The Company has also made an investment in a cement grinding unit in Iraq through a joint venture. ACPL holds 60 percent shares in Saqr Al Keetan Cement Grinding Factory, a limited liability company incorporated under the laws of Iraq.

Attock Gen Limited

Attock Gen Limited (AGL) is the first venture of the Attock Group in the Power Sector with generation capacity of 165 MW and also the first Independent Power Producer (IPP) to achieve commercial operation under 2002 Power Policy. The project is sponsored by The Attock Oil Company Limited and Attock Refinery Limited.

It is based on the environment friendly indigenous Low Sulphur Furnace Fuel Oil produced by Attock Refinery Limited. The Plant configuration consists of 9 reciprocating 16.5 MW furnace oil fired engine generator sets and 9 heat recovery steam generators (HRSG) to provide steam for one 11.6MW condensing steam turbine. The concept of 9 engines plus one steam turbine in a combined cycle mode, improves the reliability as well as the efficiency. AGL is supplying electricity to the National Grid (NTDC) and commenced its operations on March 17, 2009. Commissioning of AGL not only provided relief to the people of Pakistan from load shedding but also set a bench mark of excellence for others to follow.

Attock Information Technology Services (Pvt.) Limited

Attock Information Technology Services (Pvt.) Limited (AITSL) commenced its commercial operations from November 01, 2002. The principal activity of the company is to setup the basic infrastructure, communication systems and computer installation and provision of services. AITSL has been providing Network Integration, Business Intelligence, Electronic Collaboration Management, Plant Historian, LAN, Wireless Networking, ERP support, CMMS, HRMS, Decision Support System, Anti-virus, Shared storage, Corporate e-mail and Internet Services, VHF, CCTV, PABX Support, Invoicing System for Power Generation Sector and Corporate Fleet Management System.

Attock Energy (Private) Limited

Attock Energy (Private) Limited is a subsidiary of The Attock Oil Company Limited (AOC). Attock Energy (Private) Limited was incorporated in 2015 under the name Attock Solar (Private) Limited. The Company went through 'rebranding' in 2019 - a reflection of the Company's aspirations to further grow within 'new energy' sectors. Through its Parent Company and associated companies, Attock Energy (Private) Limited brings a century of lessons and knowledge to the market.

The company has recently executed a 20 MW solar project as 'Lead Consultant' and a 1 MW turnkey solar facility. Through Attock Energy, we continue to provide turnkey solar solutions including consultancy, system engineering, designing, site surveying, supply, installation, commissioning and after-sale services & support for both B2B and B2C markets.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022