Ghazanfar Neft Gas is one of the biggest subsidiaries of Ghazanfar Group. GNG mainly deals with Petroleum and L.P.G. Their operations are divided in two cities named ‘Hairatan’ and ‘Mazar-e-Sharif’. Mazar-e-Sharif handles all the administrative side of ‘GNG’ while ‘Hairatan’, which is about 50 km from Mazar-e-Sharif, holds the two storage sites for petroleum and other goods, which are named as ‘Hairatan 1’ and ‘Hairatan 2’. Both the sites are constructed and maintained at an international standard. Every measure has been taken to keep our operations as safe and effective as possible. ‘Hairatan was constructed in the year 2006. It has six petroleum storage tanks and one water storage tank. ‘Hairatan 1’ has a storage capacity of 20,000 metric ton. It also has an L.P.G storage facility, which can store up to 600 ton. The construction for ‘Hairatan 2’ finished in the early months of the year 2010. It has only Petroleum storage facility comprised of 10 storage tanks and 1 water tank. It has a storage capacity of 35,000 metric tons. While ‘Hairatan 2’ may not have any L.P.G storage site, it has a business port, which is called Ghazanfar Port.

All the petroleum comes to the Hairatan storage facility via Ghazanfar Port. The group has built a 6km railway track, which connects with the Uzbek rail. This is a business port, which normally deals up to 50 RTC’s (Rail Track Carriages) and has a maximum capacity of dealing up to 300 RTCs a day. There are four types of RTCs that the port deals with.

1. Petroleum Carriages,
2. L.P.G Carriages,
3. Closed Carriages (carries any type of goods),
4. Open Carriages (carries Coal, wood, steel etc which could be easily unloaded).

The port offers storage facilities for traders and also has built a platform for the unloading of goods from the RTCs. The platform can handle up to 10 trucks at a time. If the operation increases in future, the group will expand the platform that could handle up to 20 trucks at the same time.

As the RTCs enter the Afghan border they are distributed to their respective site. ‘Hairatan 1’ gets Petroleum and L.P.G carriages only where they are unloaded to the storage tanks and ‘Hairatan 2’ gets RTCs filled with goods and petroleum.

Every precautionary measure has been taken when petroleum is being unloaded from the petroleum Carriages. First an earth wire is attached to the containers so that there should be no spark. After the earth wire is attached the first valve at the bottom of the petroleum Carriage is opened and then the unloading pipes are attached to the valve. When the pipe is attached to the carriages the second valve, which is just above the first valve, is opened from the top and the flow of fuel begins. There are pumps, which deliver the petroleum from the carriages and pump it in to the storage tanks. ‘Hairatan 1’ can unload up to 12 RTCs at a time while Hairatan 2 can unload up to 28 RTCs. There are 6 pumps in ‘Hairatan 1’ and ‘Hairatan 2’, which has a capacity of unloading up to 300 cubic meters / hour from the carriages to the storage tanks. As the fuel is being unloaded to the storage tanks, it passes through the first filter. The first filter stops big pieces of impurities like a small chunk of rust, paint etc. After passing through the first filter it passes through the second filter, which is located close to the pumps. After passing through the second filter it goes to the storage tanks.

When it comes to unloading Jet Fuel, extra precautionary measures are taken. As the Head of Hairatan site, Mr. Ayub Ghazanfar, says that “we cannot afford a risk as minimal as 0.01%”, so everything is done to make sure no impurities are in the jet fuel. The pipes that unload the jet fuel are cleaned every time when it hasn’t been used for more than a week. The pipes are first washed with Jet Fuel (JP1) and then left to dry. The openings, which are accessible with human hands, are cleaned with hand and the rest is left to dry. When it is dried, the pipes are washed again with Jet Fuel (JP1) and then attached to the RTCs for the unloading of Jet Fuel. As the fuel is being unloaded it passes through a specific filter, which only processes Jet Fuel. If any other fuel is passed through it, it won’t process it. The function of this filter is to remove impurities and water from the fuel. After the fuel has passed through this filter it goes through a fuel accelerator, which can increase the Fuel specification from JP1 to JP8, whichever is the consumer’s requirement. The accelerator can process up to 1200 metric tons per 24 hrs. We also provide other types of jet fuel, like A-1 (American Standard) and TS-1 (Russian Standard) as per instruction of our clients. Amongst other facilities, ‘Hairatan 2’ has an octane accelerator, which can increase the level of octane in petrol from 60 up to 98 depending upon consumer’s specifications.

The storage tanks have been built with a combination of two International standards, which are API 650 and ASTM. Ghazanfar Construction, a subsidiary of Ghazanfar Group, built these storage tanks. The construction company outsourced professional staff from Turkey to assist them where needed. Proper care has been taken in constructing these storage tankers as it can withhold earthquake with a high magnitude. Samples have been taken off the ground to make sure that the foundation is strong so the risk of structural damage is minimal. Even though some of the storage tanks have already been built, the new ones, which are being built, are checked at every stage by the group’s personal as well as the construction team.

The storage tanks have electronic radars and other equipments, which measure the volume of the storage tanks as well as other things like temperature etc, unlike the old storage tanks where personals would manually measure the level of petroleum. This has also decreased the level of petroleum impurities caused by the opening of the hatch of the storage tanks. On the facility every pipe which is coloured Red is used for the flow of water or foam. Each storage tank has three red pipes attached to it. The two pipes excluding the middle one has water flowing through them and the middle one has foam flowing through it. Water sprinkler is used if the temperature of storage tank has increased, thus water is released through sprinkler and the temperature of the storage tank is lowered. In case of fire the other sprinkler is also used as well as the foam is also released to control the fire. Apart from the three Fire Extinguishing pipes attached to the storage tanks, there is also fire extinguishing terminals all around the facility which showers water in case of fire.

There is a room dedicated for fire control, which has 3 turbines and a diesel electricity generator. Both sites have these facilities. The first turbine is always on and its function is to keep a pressure of up to 7 kg in all the fire extinguishing terminals. Assuming there is a fire and the fire extinguishing terminals are being used; the second turbine, which is much bigger than the first turbine, is turned on automatically and all the fire terminals get a pressured flow of water. The third turbine is for the flow of foam to cover the storage tanks. All these turbines run on electricity and come an occasion where there is no electricity, the diesel generator is turned on to run the three turbines. If the fire alarm is activated, everything in the facility is turned off including the fuel loading and unloading facility, control room etc except the power to the fire control room and the floodlights, which cover all the facility. The mechanism is made in such a way to reduce collateral damage in case of fire. The facility also has a fire brigade team consisting of 24 people who keep a watch 24 hrs a day. The group also has a fire truck as well in the facility.

The L.P.G storage tanks, which are situated in ‘Hairatan 1’, can store up to 600 tons. The site can unload up to 5 L.P.G RTCs and can load 3 trucks at a time.

The storage tanks have been constructed horizontally. The storage tanks also have a safety mechanism. There are three pressure release valves, which help maintaining a safe pressure in the storage tanks. If the first one fails to open, the second valve will try to release it self and if the second one fails as well, the third valve will open and stabilise the pressure inside the tanks.

Transport

The operations, which are run in the facility, are also designed in a way that maximum efficiency and accuracy are obtained. As the trucks come inside the facility, proper checks are carried out. First the vehicle is checked and then License and registration of the vehicle is checked. Other documentations include a registration certificate from the Ministry of Trade (Petroleum Department) and national ID etc. One of the site policies is that no one is allowed to carry Cigarettes, Mobile Phones and Lighters in the loading area. Once all the necessary checks have been carried out the truck is then weighted and after weighting they are parked in the Fuel Loading area.

Storage Tanks

The outlet pipes of the storage tank have been installed 50 cm from the base of the tanks. It has been done so according to international standards, as the viscosity of petroleum is higher and it takes time for the impurities to settle in at the bottom. When the storage tanks are emptied and reach a level of 50 cm, then the bottom of the storage tank is transferred to another facility where it is processed to clear all the impurities and then poured back into the storage tanks.

‘Hairatan 1’ has 8 fuel dispensers and ‘Hairatan 2’ has 14 fuel dispensers in the fuel loading area. Once the truck is parked underneath the fuel dispensers, a worker would walk up the stair and settle the nozzle for the fuel dispenser inside the tanker and cover the top with a suction pipe which would take all the vapours, while the petrol is being dispersed inside the tank and convert it back into petroleum. This saves around 5 liters of petroleum on each fill plus it makes the working environment for their employees much cleaner and safer to operate inside the facility. Each one of the fuel dispensers is extendable; as the pressure of the fuel rises the dispenser is extended and touches the bottom of the petroleum container.

Unlike traditional fuel dispensers, the flow of the fuel is side ways rather than straight. Each fuel dispenser has a filling rate of 100 cubic meters per hour. As the fuel is being unloaded in the fuel containers, it passes through a third filter for impurities. The filling of the fuel containers is carried out automatically from the control centre. Once the filling is carried out the control centre files a log, which is then sent to the main office in Mazar-e-Sharif. There is also a diesel generator installed in the control room as a back up in case the electricity runs out. These sites also have an earth wire, which they attach to the trucks, just to make sure there is no occurrence of sparks. Once the filling is done the truck is again moved to the weighting area and the weight is compared with the data from the fuel dispensers. Once the data from the fuel dispenser matches the weighting scale, the truck is let off the facility. The facility always recommends our consumers that if they are using a diesel container to fill Petrol or vice versa, make sure you clean the container with steam as it would definitely affect the quality of our product.They currently have a laboratory, whose sole function is to regularly check the quality of petroleum in the storage tanks. All their equipment is new and all their testing is done on international level. The Laboratory can perform all the 48 Parameters testing which can revel the quality of Petroleum. Both the sites have a fully functional laboratory and are also planning to purchase mobile laboratories which can visit the delivery sites and can perform a quality test for our clients, to satisfy our their concerns regarding the quality of petroleum.

Amongst other facilities both the sites have lighting repellents, which cover an area of 200 meters, CCTV camera with motion sensors, which can alert the authorities even if they are not paying attention and four guard towers. Every measure has been taken to make sure that the facility is safe and secure to operate in.

The Port which works in collaboration with the group’s other subsidiary, Ghazanfar Transport, for the transport of goods, petroleum, L.P.G, Bitumen, Coal etc. Ghazanfar transport plays an important part in the groups operation. It has around 100 22’ wheelers out of which 90 of them can carry petroleum and 10 of them can transport L.P.G. These 22’ wheelers can transport all types of containers as they are detachable. The trucks are mainly used for the delivery of Petroleum & other goods throughout countries like Uzbek, Tajik & Turkmen border. One of the advantages that we have in respect to other transportation companies is that we have obtained permission from the neighboring governments like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan to cross their borders with ease. The group has currently rented around 480 RTCs which they are using to transport goods and petroleum. The group is planning to increase the number of rented RTCs by 520 to a total of 1000 RTCs. The group has future plan of adding 200 more trucks in their profile as well as owning 500 RTCs of their own.

Overall ‘Ghazanfar Neft Gas’ provides almost every type of fuel available from the CIS region but below is a list of fuels, which shows what is the common type of fuels that we deal in.
1. Petrol: We deal in petrol from Grade A-60 to Grade A98
2. Diesel: L-02-62, L-05-62, L-02-40
3. Jet Fuel: TC-1, Jet-A-1, JP-8
4. L.P.G

Ghazanfar Group’s Petroleum operations are mainly active in the neighboring CIS countries of Afghanistan. We have excellent relations with our neighboring CIS countries and work together with them to provide our customers high quality product. We have set ourselves a high standard which we take pride in pursuing. Following are the list of countries where our group’s petroleum activities occur.

Our group has offices in the cities of Asqabad, Turkmanabashi, Turkmanbeohi, Saeedi & Ata Murad. These offices mainly exist to help co-ordinate the flow of petroleum from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan. These dealings consist of payment to the relevant parties, making sure proper quality test are conducted & other issues. The group files their contracts with the ministry of Oil and Gas of Turkmenistan for the purchase of fuel. Our group also holds an unlimited auction registration certificate with which they can participate in the auction of petroleum in Asqabad. We have a few trading partners in this region known as TNPZ Refinery, SNPZ Refinery & Ata Murad Storage.

GNG processes the crude oil that it obtains from other sources and transfers it to the Oil processing facilities in Uzbekistan. The offices that are located in the region to help with coordination of the group’s operations are located in the cities of Tashkent & Termiz. Our trade partners involve FNPZ Refinery & BNPZ Refinery.

In Kazakhstan we have our office in Almaty. We mainly buy crude oil from Kazakhstan and then send it to Uzbekistan for processing. Our light crude oil partners are Kosmonai Gas and Petro Kazakhstan. We also buy refined petroleum products from ANPZ Refinery, CNPZ Refinery & PNPZ Refinery.

We currently do not have any regional offices in Kyrgyzstan. Our Operations in this region are strictly related to the purchasing of Petroleum products. We purchase from our partners Kyrgyz Petrol & KPR Refinery.

We have our office in the capital, Moscow, of Russia. Like Kazakhstan we purchase crude oil from Russia, and then send it to Uzbekistan. We also purchase refined oil products from ONPZ Refinery.

Ghazanfar Group is planning a rapid expansion in its operations and are planning to build and increasing their current storage capacity throughout Afghanistan. Following are some of the plans, which the group is considering to act upon.

1. Aqna: Increase storage capacity from 5,000 to 20,000 metric tons for Petrol and build a 1,000 Cubic Meter storage facility for L.P.G.
2. Sher Khan Bandar Border: Increase storage capacity from 1,000 to 20,000 metric tons for Petrol and build a 1,000 Cubic Meter storage facility for L.P.G.
3. Kabul: Build a storage capacity of 20,000 metric tons for Petrol and 1,000 Cubic Meter for L.P.G.
4. Turghandi: Build a storage capacity of 20,000 metric tons for Petrol and 1,000 Cubic Meter for L.P.G.
5. Islam Qila: Build a Petroleum storage site with a capacity of 20,000 metric ton only
6. Kandahar: Build a Petroleum storage site with a capacity of 20,000 metric ton and 1,000 cubic meters for L.P.G.
7. The group also plans to open a light crude oil refinery ‘Ghazanfar Refinery’ which would have a refining capacity of 500,000 metric ton. It would require an investment of up to $85 million and according to our estimates it would finish in the beginning or mid 2011.