KARACHI: Saudi oil giant, Aramco, has signed an agreement to acquire a 40 percent equity stake in Gas & Oil Pakistan Limited (GO), Aramco said on Tuesday, marking the Saudi state-owned company’s foray into the Pakistani fuel retail market.
GO, a diversified downstream fuels, lubricants and convenience stores operator, is one of the largest retail and storage companies in the South Asian country.
Aramco said the deal will help secure additional outlets for its refined products and provide new market opportunities for Valvoline-branded lubricants, following its acquisition of the Valvoline Inc. global products business in Feb. 2023.
The planned acquisition is subject to certain customary conditions, including regulatory approvals, to advance the Saudi oil giant’s strategy to strengthen its downstream value chain internationally.
“Our second planned retail acquisition this year aligns with Aramco’s downstream expansion strategy, with a clear path ahead for growing an integrated refining, marketing, lubricants, trading and chemicals portfolio worldwide,” Aramco quoted its Downstream President Mohammed Y. Al-Qahtani as saying in a statement.
“GO has a significant storage capacity, high-quality assets and growth potential, which will help launch the Aramco brand in Pakistan.”
Aramco is a global integrated energy and chemicals company that produces approximately one in every eight barrels of the world’s oil supply and develops cutting-edge energy technologies.
GO commenced its operation in 2015 after Pakistan’s Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) granted permission to initiate sales and marketing of petroleum products in Punjab. The company currently operates 1,000 retail outlets across the South Asian country.
The development comes at a time when Saudi Aramco is already in talks with Pakistani authorities for setting up an oil refinery and a petrochemical complex in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s caretaker energy minister, Muhammad Ali, last month told Arab News his government was actively engaged with Saudi authorities on the multibillion-dollar Aramco oil refinery project and expecting progress on the project in the next few months. 
In 2019, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia had signed seven agreements, worth $21 billion, during an official visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The deals included around $10 billion for the Aramco oil refinery and $1 billion for the petrochemical complex project in southwest Pakistan.
Last month, Shell Pakistan (SPL) also signed a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Wafi Energy to sell its domestic operations after Shell Global announced its exit from Pakistan in June, with the sale of 77 percent shareholding in the local business.
Wafi is a fast-growing retail gas station network and sole licensee of Shell Retail Network (Gas Stations) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Based in Riyadh, the company was incorporated in Sept. 2012, with a paid-up capital of 3 million Saudi riyals.