Ghana is moving towards fuel sufficiency – NPA

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA), has indicated Ghana’s progress towards becoming a fuel-sufficient country.

Dominic Aboagye, Head of Planning at the Authority, said systems and interventions to ensure an unbroken supply of oil which included the innovative Gold for Oil Policy, helped secure the nation’s credentials as a hub for fuel supply in the sub-region.

Addressing the media in the Volta and Oti Regions in Ho, the planning lead said special international oil trading licenses, forex auctions and the gold for oil policy ensured constant supply, while efforts were being made to increase the nation’s oil refining capacity.

He said a total of ten shiploads of oil had been delivered to the country under the Gold for Oil, a programme championed by the Vice President to enable the sector survive strangling forex demand, and noted also that the NPA had been facilitating the construction of a new oil refinery which is expected to provide half of the nation’s demand.

Mr Aboagye said the Authority was actively advocating the revival of the troubled Tema Oil Refinery.

“So, gradually we should be moving towards fuel sufficiency,” he said.

The NPA uses a Lycan Allocation Programme to ensure fuel availability, which Mr Aboagye said helped monitor extensively the distribution and consumption trends for on-schedule supply.

He added that the success of the programme helped to promote the supply of fuel to countries in West Africa.

Mr Aboagye said the mix of policies and interventions enabled the smooth running of the downstream petroleum sector in the face of growing threats and risks to supply which included geopolitics and climate action policies as well as the threatening forex liquidity risk.

He explained that through the Gold for Oil and various BOG interventions, and the “rigorous monitoring” of the Laycan programme, the threats to supply were being mitigated.

Mr Edwin Yaw Konu, The Volta Regional Manager of the NPA, said Region witnessed increased smuggling of fuel from neighbouring Togo, and which affected the industry and for that matter State revenue.

The risk to vehicles he said was a concern, and that the NPA was seeking the support of the Togolese authorities in addressing the illicit trade and was also partnering the police and other security agencies.

The media engagement is an annual event that helps to keep practitioners up to date on the nation’s downstream petroleum sector.

The consumer management team of the Authority is expected to sensitize the public in the Region on fuel consumption during the period.