The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC) are calling for an audit of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST) over claims that the company is reeling under debt and ‘bad management’.
“We are by this encouraging authorities whose mandate it is to protect the public purse to strenuously audit BOST and its operations rather than adding on more debt to the ailing state owned BOST” Duncan Amoah, the Executive secretary of COPEC stated in a press release.
According to, Duncan Amoah, BOST are expected to run to the capital market to borrow a “whopping” $120,000.000.00, for its operations.
“Sadly however the bad management decisions over the past one year has seen BOST not only lose its goodwill or operating capital but currently reeling under a lot of debts which has now forced it onto the capital market to borrow a whopping $120,000.000.00 (one hundred and twenty million dollars) from a single bank for operations”.
The said amount, COPEC claims, is being sourced from the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB).
Last month BOST earned reviews over accusations of illegally selling some 1.8 million barrels of crude oil at a discount leading to the loss of GH¢23million in revenue to the state. The transaction was between BOST, AOT and BB energy, COPEC noted.
Whiles waiting on the Office of the Special Prosecutor, the Auditor General and the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy to comprehensively probe the current ailing situation at BOST to institutionally reform and correct the rot going on at BOST in order to bring it to profitability, we will encourage the President of the Republic to pay a particular attention to the way BOST is being run to the ground currently.
He also indicated that despite BOST’s maintaining that it made a profit of GH₵35m last year after trading, there is still more than meet the eye otherwise they will not go to the markets to borrow money.
“One would expect such a company whose net capital less net operating expenses leaves a surplus or profit of over Ghc35million to be able to do either same volume of business if not more but BOST has not brought a single litre since the donkomi sale in September” he added.
Furthermore, COPEC also outlined that BOST went ahead to sell at -$2/barrel to BB energy though it could have easily negotiated at a little above +$5/barrel considering the ancilliary charges that had already been paid on the products In-tank, the rest of the 1.8 million barrels is then traded off to AOT on terms whose disclosure Ghanaians are yet to be provided or told.
In all, the people of Ghana are believed to have lost in excess of a minimum of $5million through this single transaction which has been referred to the Office of the Special Prosecutor for investigations due to possible financial losses and legal breaches.
