ISLAMABAD, Oct 9: The listing of five per cent shares of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited at the stock exchange through initial public offering (IPO) would add $2 billion to the capital market.

Privatization and Investment Minister Dr Abdul Hafiz Sheikh told an investor conference here on Thursday that the market capitalization would thus increase to $20 billion from the existing level of $17-18 billion.

This will make the international investors to look towards Pakistan seriously because they seldom consider markets with less than $20 billion capitalization for investments.

He said the initial 2.5 per cent shares plus an equivalent size of green shoe option would provide around Rs7 billion to the government. He said the listing of the OGDCL shares was being scheduled tentatively for October 30-November 1 so that investors could get enough time to withdraw their investment back in case they could not buy the shares of National Bank of Pakistan whose public offering would take place on October 1-15.

He said the government had lined up the IPOs of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) by December this year. Once these transactions are completed, the government would announce the schedule of the next quarter for the IPOs of Pakistan State Oil (PSO), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), National Investment Trust (NIT) and two power companies — Faisalabad Electric Supply Company and Jamshoro Power Generation Company.

In reply to a question, the minister said that concerns of the armed forces with regard to oil supplies for defence requirements had been removed and all issues pertaining to the privatization of PSO have been settled.

He said a team of Kuwait Petroleum Company (KPC) was arriving on Friday to finalize date for the sale of PSO. He said all the three bidders of PSO were still in the field and a good competition was expected.

Secretary petroleum M. Abdullah Yousaf said the total gas supply had increased from two billion cubic feet (bcf) around three years back to three billion cubic feet and it would further go up to 3.5 bcf by December this year.

He said OGDCL had earned record profits during the last two years due to the government’s decision to allow the company to function purely on commercial lines under an independent board of directors.

He said it would be the second largest listing of any state- owned entity on stock market after the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and there were no signs of a major drop in international oil prices, which could reduce the share price of OGDCL.

The chairman, OGDCL Board of Directors, Afzal Khan, said the company had contributed a record Rs33 billion revenue to the government exchequer that showed how the company was earning profits.