Fuel shortage: New policy to ensure direct delivery of fuel products underway – NPA
Government is currently implementing a new policy to ensure the direct delivery of fuel products to the country’s ports without bulk distributors.
The policy, which differs from the previous arrangement where BDCs dealt directly with international oil companies is meant to prevent any instances of fuel shortage in the wake of the Russian-Ukraine war that has disrupted global supply of crude.
Last week, there were reported cases of shortage of fuel at some fuel service stations.
Head of Economic Regulation at the National Petroleum Authority, Abass Ibrahim Tasunti, on Citi TV’s Big Issue program, said the policy will last at least for the next three months.
“Because Russia supplies almost 40% of the diesel to Europe and currently, there are sanctions on these supplies, all countries in the world are having issues with diesel. As a country, we aren’t going to allow for a shortage of diesel. Ideally, what happens is that importers or BDCs will go to the international companies themselves and order for products,” he noted.
“The sector Minister has directed that instead of waiting for the BDCs to go out there to look for the product to buy, let’s rather have a different arrangement for the next three months to ensure security of supply. It was directed that the international oil companies be given a waiver so that they would discharge the product to Ghana. We won’t wait for the BDCs to compete with other countries before they can place an order for the products.”
Meanwhile, amid concerns of fuel shortage in the country, the National Petroleum Authority says there is enough diesel in stock to meet consumer demand.
Abass Tasunti explained that some Oil Marketing Companies are currently experiencing a shortage because their preferred Bulk Oil Distributors may have stopped supplying the product for some time.
In an earlier interview with Citi Business News, he was quick to add that the situation is not related to a shortage of diesel.
“We have heard these concerns about the shortage of diesel. We have enough diesel to meet demand. The challenge that is being faced now is that some particular OMCs are having challenges getting the product from their preferred importers, but with respect to diesel we have enough.”
Source: Ghana Business
