Pakistan Oxygen Limited has announced that it will set up a Rs2.5-billion Air Separation Unit (ASU) plant in the northern region of Pakistan, in a notification to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Monday.

The company said that the ASU plant, which will be the company’s fifth, will be installed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), and would significantly boost the country's oxygen-producing capacity, particularly in the province that is currently dependent on trunking from other parts in Pakistan. The new plant is expected to come on stream by 2023.

“The new ASU shall also be able to serve the various ongoing and upcoming CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor)-related projects in KPK, providing growth opportunities for the company,” read the statement.

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Pakistan Oxygen said that the investment, which includes the plant and associated storage equipment, will meet the growing demand of oxygen from healthcare and industrial segments as well as demand for other industrial gases, including Nitrogen and Argon. “Presently, this demand is being met through trunking gases from the company's plant in the central region.”

Since 2018, the company has approved significant capital investments valuing around Rs10 billion in expansion projects and for improvements of the existing plant, machinery, and equipment. The largest of these investments, valuing Rs 6. 3 billion, is the under-construction 270 TPD ASU Plant at the company's site in Port Qasim, Karachi.