The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has initiated plans to ensure uninterrupted importation and supply of petroleum products in the country.
The interventions include the management of storage depots, the lay can allocation programme, and stock monitoring and reporting.
Speaking at a media engagement in Cape Coast on June 7, the head of planning at NPA, Dominic Aboagye, said the ‘Gold for Oil programme’, the Bank of Ghana forex support to Bulk Oil Distribution Companies(BDCs), and the granting of special international oil trading license were key to preventing any risk of fuel supply disruption.
Mr. Aboagye noted that the Russia-Ukraine war disrupted the fuel supply chain in the world.
He noted that 80% of the country’s fuel consumption was dependent on imports.
”Local production of fuel by Akwaaba Oil Refinery and the Platon Gas Oil Refinery was supporting the sector. The local fuel refinery would be ramped up with the expected start of operation by the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and the completion of the Sentuo refinery. The first phase of Sentuo refinery would produce 40,000 barrels per day, which would be increased to 100,000 barrels per day,” he noted.
Mr. Aboagye reiterated that the country’s daily fuel demand was about 110,000 metric tonnes of fuel per day.
Therefore, he said that the completion of the Sentuo refinery would ensure local fuel sufficiency.
In granting an applicant permission to start a filling station, NPA stated the need to have a site plan, no objection to a construction permit, an authorization test run, and authorization to operate from the Authority.
He mentioned the use of loading ramps to tilt vehicles to be filled to the brim, under-delivery at the pumps, and unavailability of water-finding paste as some of the infractions, which the office was working to correct in the country.
The measures put in place by the NPA saved the country from experiencing fuel shortages as experienced in other countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, and Zambia.