Oilboy plans 70 EV fast-charging stations across Pakistan with Rs1bn rights issue

Oilboy Energy Limited (OBOY), a Pakistan-based energy company, plans to raise Rs1 billion through a rights issue to finance the rollout of a nationwide network of 70 electric-vehicle (EV) fast-charging stations.

According to documents made available to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the company, formerly known as Drekkar Kingsway Limited, will issue 100 million ordinary shares at Rs10 each.

“The project constitutes a diversification of the company’s energy business from the trading of coal, LPG, petrochemicals and allied fuel products into the retail supply of electricity as a transport fuel,” OBOY said in its documents.

Sindh to establish EV charging networks across province

It added that the initiative is intended to establish a recurring, PKR-denominated, high-margin revenue stream, reduce its dependence on commodity trading margins, and to position the company as an early-scale charge point operator ahead of the projected expansion of Pakistan’s electric vehicle fleet.

About Rs1 billion of the proceeds will be used to establish and commission the charging network, while the company will contribute a further Rs25.42 million from internal cash flows.

Each site will cost about Rs14.65 million and will be equipped with a dual-nozzle 120kW–240kW DC fast charger capable of servicing two vehicles simultaneously, a typical 40 kWh top-up in fifteen to twenty minutes.

“The project is expected to come online by the 1st quarter of 2027,” said the company.

The development of EV charging infrastructure in Pakistan has seen increasing efforts and challenges over the years.

Earlier in March, the Government of Sindh approved a Public-Private Partnership project with China’s ADM Group and Malik Group of Companies to establish an EV charging network across the province.

Oilboy, in its documents, said that the project constitutes an entirely new line of business for the company, as it has no prior operating history in the ownership or operation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

“The project is therefore a greenfield undertaking rather than an expansion of an established operation,” it said.

The company said that the project requires the concurrent acquisition, permitting, energisation and commissioning of seventy (70) sites across multiple cities and inter-city corridors, each of which is dependent on land availability, distribution company load sanction, transformer and panel installation, civil works and equipment importation.

Oilboy Energy Limited was incorporated in Pakistan as a private limited company on June 28, 1993, and subsequently converted into a public limited company on June 29, 1994.

Initially, the company’s principal activity was to manufacture electrical appliances, cosmetics, toiletries, leather goods, machinery, components, and parts. However, in 1996, the company sold its plant and machinery and later became engaged in making equity investments in undervalued, profitable situations.