Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, has said that no individual is now allowed to lift contaminated oil from Ghana’s Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company (BOST).
This, he said, is part of interim measures to prevent the supply of contaminated fuel onto the Market following the BOST scandal where some five million liters of substandard fuel was reportedly brought onto the market by Movenpinna Energy and Zup Oil.
Responding to questions on the floor of Parliament, Boakye Agyarko said the Ministerial Committee charged with investigating the scandal had not completed its work, but their report would be submitted to the Mines and Energy Committee of the House when ready, after which a white paper will be issued on it.
“One of the interim measures is that no longer will individuals be allowed to lift contaminated products out of BOST,” he said.
Boakye Agyarko explained that they have taken this decision because it usually becomes difficult to track the whereabouts of products lifted from BOST.
“We also noted that as soon as products were lifted out of BOST, you lost control of its track. As an interim measure, it is only BOST with its BVRs that can lift products to designated end-use consumers under the care and control of BOST.
No longer are private companies allowed to lift products to unknown destinations. This became obvious during the preliminary investigation conducted by FDA itself whose preliminary results were released to the public. So we are taking the obvious which can remediate some of these deficiencies and shortfalls,” he added.
