Minister of Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has commended the Bulk Oil Storage and Distribution Company Limited (BOST) for the turnaround in its operational and revenue fortunes.
This comes on the back of the state-owned firm, increasing its profits to GH¢161million in 2021 after it recorded a loss of GH¢291 million in 2020.
Speaking at the first Annual General Meeting of the company, Dr. Opoku Prempeh said the development demonstrates that state-owned enterprises can deliver value through the right leadership and management to boost national development.
“The transformation is indeed massive, as evidenced in improved operational efficiency. This is the path to go if we should attain the path of State-Owned Enterprises contributing to the fiscal policy of government for its national growth and development agenda. Imagine if 100 SOEs each made GH¢150million net income,” Dr. Opoku Prempeh said.
The Minister disclosed that the improvement in BOST’s revenue was due to a core business strategy and an increase in petrol and diesel sales revenue of about 83 percent.
He added that an amount of US$611 million paid from the US$624 million debt accumulated in 2017 was generated from BOST’s internally generated funds.
The sector minister also lauded the management of the state-owned firm for the effective utilisation of revenue generated from the nine pesewas BOST margin on petroleum products.
He explained that proceeds from the petroleum levy were used to undertake renovation and repair works on fuel depots, decommissioning of tanks, revamping four river barges for fuel transportation on the Volta Lake, and the upgrade of the Akosombo jetty.
“The rest are upgrade and replacement of loading arms, pumps and valves across all the depots at Buipe-Bolgatanga-Petroleum-Product-Pipeline; Tema-Akosombo-Petroleum Product-Pipeline; and Bolgatanga Petroleum Export Depot among others.”
He continued, “Comparing figures, I also saw BOST reducing its administrative expenses from as high as GH¢538 million in 2016 with a staff strength of 349 to GH¢212 million in the year 2021 with a staff strength of 487.
The energy minister also commended BOST for deploying cost-cutting measures in its operations.
“Genuine administrative costs grow upward and not downward due to factors like inflation among others but I would like to commend management for the prudence that resulted in these massive reductions in the cost of operations.
The company is spending less while achieving more for the government and people of Ghana; from the face of the record, this is an impressive performance that the company’s board and management need to be commended for,” the energy minister stated.
Dr. Opoku Prempeh in his concluding remarks reaffirmed BOST of government’s commitment to make the entity an effective and profitable one.
“I am aware of recent developments in the mass media on BOST, but I am also aware of the political economy around operations of the company. Government is also aware of the turf-war to get the company derailed, and we are not falling for those who seek to engage the reverse button,” he emphasised.
Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh