OPEN BALLOTING OF PPL SHARES ON WEDNESDAY

Islamabad, August 3, 2004

Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Federal Minister for Privatisation & Investment will chair the open balloting for the recent Initial Public Offering of Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) shares among the smaller applicants for 500 shares being held on August 4, 2004 (Wednesday) at Sheraton Hotel Karachi at 7 p.m. by the appointed Balloter Sidat Hyder Morshed Associates.

After balloting the shares will be transferred to CDC or Physically dispatched by end August. Prior to balloting the balloter will make a presentation regarding the process and the software. The balloting will be open for the general public for transparency and satisfaction of the people. The computer will randomly pick out numbers of the successful applicants. List of the successful ones will be sent to main branches of banks on August 5, 2004 for onward transmission to the respective branches. Refunds to unsuccessful applicants will be completed by August 14, 2004. The Privatisation Commission received a record number of 7,55,000 applications from the smaller applicants for 500 shares. The computer balloting will select 205,750 successful applicants.

The IPO of PPL shares opened from July 19 to July 22, 2004 for four days at the Government's offer price of Rs.55/= per share. PC held road shows in all the major cities of the country including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar to inform the general public and the investors regarding the procedure to apply, the worth of PPL and the risks involved. Lead Manger to the transaction is Elixir Securities Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd.

PPL is the fifth company after NBP, OGDCL, SSGC and PIAC whose shares are being offered to the general public through the Capital Market. It is one of the large companies in the oil & gas exploration and production sector and is the owner of the Sui Gas fields.

The government has approved the divestment of PPL shares through an Offer for Sale of 10% (68.58 million) of the company's issued shares to the general public with a green shoe option of additional 5% shares in case of over subscription. Applications are being invited in multiples of 500 shares. In line with the government's objective of 'Privatisation for the People', preference in allocation will be given to the smallest applicants for 500 shares for a total investment of Rs.27, 500/=. Whereas this will directly benefit the small investors it will also help in broadening the shareholder base and lend additional strength to the market. The listing of PPL will also add significantly to market capitalization. It is expected that PPL would become one of the highly traded stocks in the stock markets.