Pakistan State Oil (PSO) is the country’s largest petroleum marketing firm and also its highest revenue earner. The company bases its leadership on offering cutting-edge, automated services to its 2.8 million customers.

Pakistan State Oil (PSO) is Pakistan’s largest petroleum marketing firm, and the country’s largest company in terms of revenues. Market capitalization of PSO is over $775 million, and the company’s broad network of over 3,800 petrol stations stretches throughout Pakistan. Due to its recent restructuring, PSO has set major corporate landmarks that have resulted in the company doubling its revenues over the past four years to $3.5 billion last year. PSO has a wide customer base, including strategic sectors such as aviation, the steel industry and the Pakistani armed forces. In addition to its retail outlets, PSO also boasts 23 petroleum depots and a trucker-tanker fleet of 8,500.

A key figure in the company’s successful transformation was former Managing Director Tariq Kirmani. Working within the framework of the sector’s de-regulation since 2000, Mr. Kirmani was instrumental in creating the market-oriented and commercially viable company that PSO is today – a transformation so effective that the company has become a case study for various international universities, such as Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Mr. Kirmani, who is now chairman of Pakistan International Airlines and who has been replaced at PSO by new Managing Director Jalees A. Siddiqui, says that the company’s major turnaround was helped considerably by the government’s push for a more transparent and effective energy sector. He states: “That was the starting point. From there we implemented a number of changes at PSO in terms of management and began to make better decisions in terms of corporate governance, human resources policy, and systems and processes. Hence, we were able to come up with new products and services in a very efficient manner.”

Tariq Kirmani Former Former Managing Director of Pakistan State Oil

Those products and services have gone on to give PSO a reputation for quality pioneering in the industry. According to Mr. Kirmani, many of the company’s innovative products have still not been replicated by other competitors in the market. It is the case of their card business and their IT quality control systems that ensure that the 2.8 million customers who visit PSO outlets daily receive the most transparent and efficient service. “One could say that we had to invent the wheel locally,” comments Mr. Kirmani. “Naturally we are proud of that, and I think that of all the things that we have accomplished the most important is the change in the perception of PSO. The services that our stations offer are amazing. We provide automated services, so that from the time you swipe your card until the time you get your bill, the system is untouched by human hands. We can even tell you how many kilometers per liter you car is getting each month.” The company has also implemented customer service centers and automated feedback registration systems, as well as putting in place a number of total quality control systems across the spectrum of their receipt, storage, transportation and delivery activities. Not surprisingly, PSO’s market share has grown remarkably throughout the past few years to reach 45% today, and the company has been assigned a credit rating of AAA and A+1, the highest available ratings from the Pakistan Credit Rating Agency.

PSO is also active in social development projects throughout the country. As well as being involved in rural empowerment programs, PSO has created educational scholarships and conducts internships for students and special management courses for professionals.