By Kwabia Owusu-Mensah
Kumasi Nov. 6, GNA – The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) says it will continue to enforce its laws and regulations rigorously to ensure sanity and efficient operations in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
Ms Farida Ali Musah, Manager, Legal Affairs at NPA, who stated this said with the passage of the Executive Instrument 378 (LI 378) under the NPA Act 2005, Act 691, the Authority was now clothed with the power to prosecute offenders of its regulations by itself.
Speaking at a media engagement with senior journalists in Kumasi, she said the NPA would, from the first quarter of 2024, begin prosecuting industry players who violated the laws and regulations, at all levels of the law court.
She said the reliance on third parties such as the police and the Attorney Generals Department had proved to be inadequate in dealing with illegalities in the downstream petroleum sector.
Ms Musah mentioned some of the offences in the sector as engaging in activities in the downstream industry without license, misapplication of prescribed petroleum pricing formula, false statements and recording of material information, obstruction or interference with the work of officers and employees of the Authority, violation of petroleum product marketing regulation and Bulk Road Vehicle (BRV) tracking and volume monitoring regulations.
She said the NPA needed the support of all industry players to enforce regulations in that specialized industry sector and called on the media to help in the process of addressing some of the challenges in the sector.
Mr Dominic Aboagye of the Economic Regulation and Planning Directorate, NPA mentioned geopolitical risks, climate action policies, forex liquidity risk and inclement weather, as some of the threats and risks to the supply of petroleum products into the country.
He said as part of measures to ensure continuous supply of petroleum products in the country, the NPA was rigorously monitoring the laycan programme to ensure uninterrupted supply.
The Bank of Ghana had also instituted special forex auction schemes to ensure that importers had enough US dollars to import the product, there was also the introduction of the Gold for Oil programme as well as the enforcement of the exclusion zone of offshore discharge facilities.
Ms Betty Nana Adwoa Ofori, Ashanti Regional Manager of NPA, said inadequate knowledge in the handling of petroleum products, inadequate training for fuel pump attendants, poor communication among stakeholders in the sector, among others, were some of the challenges facing the sector in the region.
She also said third party retailers (tabletop sellers of petroleum products) as well as non-adherence to outlet etiquette and warnings were some of the challenges in the region.
GNA