Zafar Ul Islam Usmani has been appointed as the interim Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL), effective from January 1, 2026.
The listed refinery shared the development in its notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday.
“Further to our announcement dated September 11, 2025, we would like to inform that the Board of Directors of Pakistan Refinery Limited has appointed Zafar Ul Islam Usmani as the interim Managing Director and CEO of the Company, effective January 1, 2026, till further notice,” read the filing.
The development comes after Zahid Mir stepped down as MD and CEO of PRL in September.
According to information available on PRL’s website, Zafar Ul Usmani has held multiple C-level positions with multinational and national companies. He has worked as Chief Operating Officer in Cable & Wireless JV, Paktel; Chief Executive Officer in ExxonMobil JV in Pakistan; Senior Vice President Commercial in Pakistan International Airlines Corporation; Senior Executive Vice President in Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited and Chief Operating Officer in CM Pak Ltd (Zong).
He has overall 33 years of experience with 17 years in C-level positions, with exposure in the areas of management, strategy, planning, marketing, sales, distribution, customer services and finance.
Usmani served as Chairman of Pakistan State Oil Company Limited for more than four years. He has also served on the board of directors of Lahore Electric Supply Company Limited, Genco Holding Company Limited, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, China Mobile Pakistan, Mobil Askari Lubricants Limited, R&D Fund, and USF under the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication.
Usmani holds an MBA degree from Marquette University, Milwaukee, USA and a Chief Operating Officer Program from Cable & Wireless College, Coventry, UK.